The Pearl within by Michael and Pamela Mathews

THE PEARL WITHIN A SERIES OF INSPIRATIONAL JOURNEYS AND JOURNALING By: Pamela and Michael L. Mathews

Published by Focusonheaven.com Note: All Bible Scripture References are from the New International (NIV) version unless otherwise labeled. Website: http://www.focusonheaven.com Email: Pamela.Mathews@focusonheaven.com Michael.Mathews@focusonheaven.com Phone: 715-379-1430 Copyright by Michael and Pamela Mathews â&#x20AC;&#x201C; All Rights Reserved

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant searching for pearls. ~Matthew 13:45

THE PEARL WITHIN TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE ............................................................................................................................................. 4 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 7 JOURNEY 1 - THE STARTING POINT .......................................................................................... 12 JOURNEY 2 – FACING YOUR PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE................................................ 19 JOURNEY 3 - THANKFULNESS ..................................................................................................... 35 JOURNEY 4 – THE MIND ................................................................................................................ 46

Are you prepared for the Journey of your Life … by finding out who you were created to be, and who you can become by letting the Pearl Within you be discovered? Will you ask, seek, and knock at your own hearts door to reveal that Pearl Within? The Kingdom of Heaven is waiting for each of us to discover our beauty, power, and potential.

Preface â&#x20AC;&#x153;Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking for fine pearls!â&#x20AC;? ~Matthew 13:25

Welcome to your personal journey through the Pearl Within Journal. This Journal is uniquely designed for your life and is like no other journaling experience that you have encountered. What makes this Contemporary Journal so unique is that it will take you through a personal journey of your life to find the hidden Pearl(s) within yourself. This is the very Pearl that God always intended for your life. The journey will take you through your past, through your present, and help launch you into the future as it illuminates the Pearl that God designed you to be from birth. The journey will blend many experiences and emotions that make you laugh, make you cry, make you rejoice, and lead you through many euphoric moments of thanksgiving as you see your true reflective pearl being extracted from the oyster and irritants of your life. You will soon see the similarities of the miracle of both the Pearl and your life, once you view the completeness God intended for your past, present and future.

The Miraculous Birth of a Pearl The birth of a pearl is truly a miraculous event. Unlike gemstones or precious metals that must be mined from the earth, pearls are grown by live oysters far below the surface of the sea. Gemstones must be cut and polished to bring out their beauty. However, pearls need no such treatment to reveal their loveliness. They are born from oysters complete -- with a shimmering iridescence, lustre and soft inner glow unlike any other gem on earth. A natural pearl begins its life as a foreign object, such as a parasite or piece of shell that accidentally lodges itself in an oyster's soft inner body where it cannot be expelled. To ease this irritant, the oyster's body takes defensive action. The oyster begins to secrete a smooth, hard crystalline substance around the irritant in order to protect itself. This substance is called "nacre." As long as the irritant remains within its body, the oyster will continue to secrete nacre around it, layer upon layer. Over time, the irritant will be completely encased by the silky crystalline coatings. And the result, ultimately, is the lovely and lustrous gem called a pearl. How something so wondrous emerges from an oyster's way of protecting itself is one of nature's loveliest surprises. For the nacre is not just a soothing substance. It is composed of microscopic crystals of calcium carbonate, aligned perfectly with one another, so that light passing along the axis of one crystal is reflected and refracted by another to produce a rainbow of light and color.

The Miraculous Birth of the Pearls of Your Past, Present and Future The full birth of who God designed you to be is a miraculous event. Unlike perfect people, God creates us into his image with a fallen nature because of the fall of Adam and Eve. Along your life journey many irritants such as disappointments, broken relationships, lack of self worth, dysfunctional family traits, addictions,

financial issues, thoughts of death, self-hatred, loss of hope, parasites, and many other clingy things seem to collect in the closets of your life. As your life progresses, the illusion of fear and failure are combined to force you to escape or resent the memories of your past, which in turn effect your present and eventually hinder your future. God has allowed you as an individual to review your collection of irritants in a manner that allows Him to shine light into your past, present, and future, simultaneously. This review allows you to be thankful or exchange the irritants for a re-alignment that perfectly connects your past, present, and future via God’s light. These light rays into your past, present, and future allow you to view the pearl of your life represented by a full rainbow of light and color that connects your past, present and future into the miracle God always intended. Are you ready to begin the journey of finding the pearl within, by exchanging the irritants of your life for the miracle God intended! Should you embark on this personal journey you will be challenged to exchange your irritants for personal pearls. The Pearl Within Journal includes various areas of your life that generally need to be refined, cultivated, and rid of irritants that have blocked the light rays of completeness to shine upon your pearl. In some cases, if you have released or exchanged your irritants over periods of time, the journey may be simple. However, if you have built up your irritants or hidden them through the years, the process could be lengthy and painful, but every bit worth it, as you begin seeing the Pearls Within you! We encourage you to read and listen to the song called “Whatever Your Doing … something Heavenly” by Sanctus Real. We encourage you to purchase the song once you have listened to the lyrics at -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_t-PaBRSQY "Whatever You're Doing … Something Heavenly" It's time for healing time to move on It's time to fix what's been broken too long Time to make right what has been wrong It's time to find my way to where I belong There's a wave that's crashing over me All I can do is surrender (Chorus) Whatever you're doing inside of me It feels like chaos somehow there's peace It's hard to surrender to what I can't see but I'm giving in to something heavenly Time for a milestone Time to begin again Revaluate who I really am Am I doing everything to follow your will or just climbing aimlessly over these hills So show me what it is you want from me I give everything I surrender... To...

(Chorus) Time to face up Clean this old house Time to breathe in and let everything out That I've wanted to say for so many years Time to release all my held back tears Whatever you're doing inside of me It feels like chaos but I believe You're up to something bigger than me Larger than life something heavenly Whatever you're doing inside of me It feels like chaos but now I can see This something bigger than me Larger than life something heavenly Something heavenly It's time to face up Clean this old house Time breathe in and let everything out

Sanctus Real, EMI/CMG Sparrow Records 2008

Introduction “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.” ~ Matthew 16:19 “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” Marianne Williamson

Many people seek for greater things such as greater meaning, greater understanding, greater wealth, greater relationships, greater significance, etc. The Bible is clear that we are to seek, we are to ask, and we are to knock (Matthew 7:7). In essence, the Bible encourages all people to improve and become the person God created them to be. Taking this one step further, Jesus begins to encourage people to not only believe upon Him but to expect to do even greater works than He did (John 14:12). Lastly, God states that He has given you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven … so that you can bind and loosen things in your life, your family’s life and other people’s life. Let it be known that for everyone that has allowed their past to block their future, feels inadequate, feels a failure, feels dysfunctional, feels incompetent, feels unworthy, feels relationally inept … God has given you the keys to start finding and unlocking the pearl that is within you!! Without a doubt, God has designed us to become more than many of us have become. However, few people have realized the simple process in which this takes place. That simple process can be explained in Scripture by stating what the Kingdom of Heaven is truly like. Open your hearts, listen, and pray over the following Scripture passage. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.” Matthew 13:45-46 This passage in the Bible is vital to understand a simple process that many people overlook. You will note that in this passage the object of discovery is a pearl of great value. You will also note that the subject surrounding the object of great value is the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus was instructing us that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant who is looking for fine pearls, and finally finds a pearl of great value. When the merchant finds the one of great value he is willing to exchange all else to get the one of greatest value. Therefore, the Kingdom of God includes an exchange process as we progress through our asking, seeking, and knocking (Matt. 7:7). The doors of your opportunity begin to open and close with the key of exchange! This passage is the key to your personal journey through the Pearl Within Journal. The Kingdom of Heaven and the Keys that God gave you to loosen and bind the issues within the Kingdom, is very similar to the journey of finding the great pearl within you. In order to recognize and obtain the great pearl you must exchange the issues of life. Simply put, the

key(s) to the Kingdom of God that allow you to loosen and bind (Matthew 16:19) is the very process of exchange. This process is so simple that at first glance it may appear complicated. The great news is that throughout scripture and our everyday life the process of exchange is shown as the key to getting the very things that God intended for us. Below is a long list of exchanges that have taken place that have advanced the Kingdom.  

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God so love the world that He exchanged His one and only begotten Son so that we might believe and be saved. Jesus was on the Cross and exchanged His blood and body for our eternal salvation. He set the example of exchange for us to follow. This is why he commands us to also exchange by ‘taking up our cross, daily.’ Adam and Eve exchanged a life of perfection for a sinful future by eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Adam and Eve exchanged one more time by shedding the blood of an animal to cover up their new found sin. Noah exchanged the destruction of his family by having faith that rain would flood the earth even when there had never been any rain. He exchanged his role as a shepherd and shipbuilder for the title of a righteous preacher through his act of faith. Jacob exchanged His name for Israel upon confession of who he really was. Jonah exchanged his position in the belly of the whale when he committed to go to Nineveh. Joshua exchanged his lack of hope for victory when he listened to the voice of God to get up from prayer and move forward into action. Solomon exchanged his inexperience as a King, with the greatest wisdom in the world by acting and believing in His dream. Rahab, the prostitute, exchanged her faith for a place in the lineage of Jesus. The Apostle Paul exchanged his position as a martyr of Christians by asking God what He wanted from his life when he fell of his horse on the way to Damascus. Joseph and Mary exchanged their shame of having a child out of wedlock and became the parents of the greatest prophet and Messiah by believing what the angel of the Lord said to them. The Apostle John exchanged his fear of isolation and visions and wrote the greatest revelation of all time … called the book of Revelation. Every sinner exchanged their life of sin by confessing that Jesus died on the cross for their sinful life in order to become a Christian. Many people in the New Testament exchanged their faith for a healing; as God said ‘Your faith has made you whole”.

Simple and Personal Life Examples

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I exchanged my single life for a married life. The things I used to do with my single friends were exchanged for activities with my spouse and family. I exchanged marriage vows with my spouse making a commitment to be devoted to my spouse until death. I exchanged my feelings of a dysfunctional family by confessing that all families were born sinful, and therefore dysfunctional. I exchanged my college tuition for a college degree. I exchanged my college degree with a job in the computer industry. I exchanged my past failings with God’s forgiveness by confessing the past failings. In exchange, God gave me a future direction.

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I exchanged my love for alcohol with a love for God’s Word, once I realized I could ask for deliverance. I exchanged some of my retirement fund for a loan for my daughter’s education.

As you can see by these examples, the process of exchange is what advanced the Kingdom of God and my personal life. Old Testament and New Testament people advanced the Kingdom and unlocked doors by exchanging what they had for something better. This is why Jesus stated that we could have the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven to bind, and loosen things on earth. Even though this is a limited list of exchanges, any of us would be hard pressed to find examples where things are advanced or improved without a form of exchange. Consider the mere fact that Jesus was used as the ransom and sacrifice for my sins. Even though He paid the price through the sacrifice, three forms of exchange had to take place for the ransom or sacrifice to have meaning. 1. God had to exchange with Humanity by giving His one and only Son in an earthly form. 2. Jesus had to exchange His position, come to earth, and die a sacrificial death. 3. Each sinner has to exchange by confessing that Jesus Christ died for their sins, before the ransom or sacrifice is applied to them personally. Even though we claim that salvation is free, we need to admit that there was a price to be paid, and that I cannot claim my own salvation without exchanging with God my confession that I was born a sinner. The simplicity of the process of exchange is best explained by understanding the simplicity of a relationship. In every living relationship, there is a process of exchange. There is no healthy relationship where there is no ongoing exchange. This includes relationships with God, spouses, children, friends, family, co-workers, but most of all with yourself. Note again that Jesus said that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant of pearls who is willing to exchange for the great pearl they have found. Possibly Jesus used this parable to indicate that we must be like a merchant, knowing that a merchant is an ‘exchanger’ of goods. A merchant is also always asking, seeking, and knocking for greater goods to improve their position. If we are commanded to continue to ask, seek, and knock, we should conclude that we are always finding/learning of greater things that we can exchange with. In fact, we can take all the irritants of our life, and begin to exchange for greater things. This is possible when God’s light shines truth and revelation on my irritants, transforming them into the greatest Pearl Within me. This process of exchange will be the basis for every chapter within the Journal. In other words, the keys to your personal healing and the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven cannot be used without an exchange that will take place. Are you willing to exchange in an effort to see God’s full light come into each area of your life to make your past, present and future the full rainbow of perfect light, color, and reflection that God intended it to be? Your Pearl Within is waiting for the full light of God to be reflected!

If the key to finding the Pearl Within is the action or process of exchange, every chapter of this journal will require action on your part to exchange things from your past, present, and future in order to identify the fullness and completeness of who God created you to become. Because God did not wake up today and change His mind about you, or who He created you to become, He desires you to ask, seek, knock as you exchange your entire past, present and future ambitions. This process for the theological at heart would be known as the process of redemption. (1) God instituted the process of redemption through many facets including covenants, testaments, and promises throughout scripture. However the full nature of redemption does not reach full value and maturity until we meet Christ in heaven (Ephesians 1:14). This indicates that the exchange and/or redemptive process to be an ongoing transaction of exchange. This is very much what God intended when He said that we would be in His image and progress through stages of ever increasing Glory. “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (II Corinthians 3:18) Let’s begin the process of ever-increasing Glory in your life by allowing you the opportunity and privilege to exchange who you and others thought you were, with who God created you to be; as this is truly your Pearl Within! Make sure you write down the Pearl(s) that you find within yourself, in the spaces provided called “Personal Pearls of Wisdom.” It will excite you to learn that in Genesis 9:13-17 that God made a covenant (agreement of exchange) that he will use a cloud and the rainbow to remind Himself and us of His everlasting agreement of love for humanity. The rainbow that is created by light-rays of reflection and refraction are a great reminder of God’s light that is able to reflect and refract of the beauty of who he created you to be. This beauty can be found if you search and decide to exchange with Him. Note: Because this journey is so interactive and requires you to exchange with God we have provided a Blog called The Pearl Within Blog at focusonheaven.com/pearlwithin.htm. Please use the Blog to openly discuss your findings and exchanges. If you prefer to keep things less public, you can email Pam or Mike at

ThePearlWithin@focusonheaven.com.

Personal Pearls of Wisdom Please start listing some of the things you learned in the introduction: Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t forget to list the Pearls you have found within. Also, please visit the Pearl Within Blog at http://www.focusonheaven.com/pearlwithin.html to share your thoughts, questions and breakthroughs. __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________

Please list the things that you already know you want to exchange with God: __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________

Journey 1 - The Starting Point There's much more for me included in Christ's salvation than merely a paid ticket to heaven. There is victory over present circumstances if I am willing to accept it. ~Matilda Nordtvedt

“But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.” II Timothy 2:20, 21

We hope that the words by Sanctus Real “Whatever You’re Doing … Something Heavenly” continue to play in your mind. Specifically, the words below will be at the heart of this chapter. Time to face up Clean this old house Time to breathe in and let everything out That I've wanted to say for so many years Time to release all my held back tears Before getting into the heart of the Pearl Within Journal, it is critical that you have opportunity to begin at the correct starting place. Many journeys in life are wonderful experiences, and yet there are other journeys that quickly become misdirected, frustrating, and even devastating. The journeys that are less than enjoyable are usually the journeys that were either unplanned, or the person on the journey was not adequately prepared for the journey ahead. For me personally, I cannot enjoy taking any journey in life until I know that I am prepared, and that my mind can focus on the journey ahead, versus a mess that I left behind or will come back home to. I find that I must make sure that my starting point is uncluttered, and that I can mentally envision a return to a house and circumstances that are clean and free of clutter. For this very reason, before I go on any type of journey or vacation, I make sure that I go through every room in my house to ensure things are clean and in order. In most cases, I do this a day or two in advance, and yet I do it once again before I finally lock the doors and leave on my journey. As I think about why I do this, it simply comes down to the reality that I realize my house has to be in order, or I will waste my time on my journey thinking about the return to an unclean house. When I return home from a journey, I want to come home to a house that has been cleaned before I ever left it. This gives me a peace of mind, and allows me to thoroughly enjoy the journey as well as the comfort of returning to my own home, free of clutter. Whether it is the song by Sanctus Real or my own desire to come home to a clean house, this concept of the starting point and cleaning our house before a journey is what the Apostle Paul

describes in 2 Timothy 2:20-21. In summary, the Apostle Paul is saying that in order for me to prepare my journey and my lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s calling with God, that I must not only examine and clean my house, but also rid my house of clutter that is dishonoring to God. In this passage, we are informed that in every great house (life), there are Personal Pearls of some things that need to be cleaned and that if we would Wisdom start by cleaning the rooms or dishonorable things in life, we ____________________________ will be prepared unto every good work God has prepared for ____________________________ us. In order for you to get the most from your Pearl Within Journey, it is vital for you to start by examining yourself (house) and the rooms within your house/life. The hope is that when you finish this chapter, you feel you are ready for the journey of a lifetime, by having a clean (self) to come back home to, no matter what you discover on this journey. This chapter is your opportunity to exchange for something heavenly. Many people skip this starting point and never enjoy the journey of life that God prepared for them.

Please take a few days or even a few weeks to process Exchange Exercise 1.1. This is not a race, rather a journey to something heavenly. We encourage you to be prayerful, mindful, and interact with God to hear his voice on the personal rooms of your house. I encourage you to contact us if you are struggling through this exercise by going to http://www.focusonheaven.com/Pearlwithin.htm Exchange Exercise 1.1 Using Exchange Table 1.1 please rate from (1-10) the areas (rooms) of your life based on the definitions given in Exchange Rating Table 1.2. Area/Room of Life Self Esteem Self Worth Fear Anger Bitterness Faith in God Control Sexuality Relationships My past Emotions My future God Religion/Christianity Eternity/eternal destiny My personal Salvation

Rating

Comments

Exchange Exercise Table 1.1

Rating 1 2

3 4

5 6 7 8 9 10.

Definition of Rating I have complete clutter in this room of my life … I feel hopelessly lost. I don’t even know where to begin to start cleaning. I have been so frustrated over this room in my life as I have taken action to clean it up, but it keeps getting cluttered again. I have lost hope at even trying to clean it again. I realize the clutter in this room of my life, but have started taking small steps to clean it up. I have seen significant improvement over the last few years, but need to watch what clutter I let come back in. I feel like I am always on guard in this room. I sense that I have matured and cleaned many aspects of this room. I am trending upwards to having a pure and clean room in this area. I have finally kicked the clutter out of this room of my life. I am off to a different room. I am going on 2+ years of a completely un-cluttered room in this area. I have never had issues in this room of my life and it has always remained clean. God sees this as one of the areas that I have surrendered to Him. He is pleased, and I am at peace with this room in my life. This room in my life was once messy, God cleansed/healed it, and now I enjoy helping other people see the clutter in this room of their life. Exchange Rating Table 1.2

Congratulations on finishing your first exercise. This was your first taste at the possibility of exchanging some of your thoughts, confessions, prayers, and inner feelings. God is pleased whenever we make a choice to voluntarily exchange with Him. In fact, the most basic definition of an Altar is “A place where we meet with God to exchange our earthly possessions with heavenly possessions.” When you put this in simple terms, you start understanding and wondering why more people do not set-up a place of exchange more frequently, and more often. The altar has less to do with a physical place than it does a mental place where we openly make a decision to exchange our hurts, pains, sorrows, beliefs, inadequacies with heavenly replacements. As I stated, this was your first taste at the possibility of exchange; developing a list of what I may desire to exchange. At this point you may not be ready to know how to exchange in a simple and healthy manner, but as you progress through the Pearl Within journal you will become comfortable with the simple process of exchanging/redeeming your human limitations and clutter for heavenly replacements. This simple exchange is the manner in which we get to go from Glory to Glory as described in II Cor. 3:18. God has always desired that we simplify our communications with Him, which brings us to the next action and exchange exercise; how do you view God?

Exercise 1.3 Most people grow up with an image and perception of God that is specific to the combination of their parental and church teachings, their personal experiences, and their feelings. It is important to identify how you view God in order to receive the full light of who He is. Just as your image and perception of your kids, spouse, boss, or family members effects how you relate with them; so does your image of God. If I want to have a personal relationship with a living person, or a living God, I need to evaluate how I perceive them. Exercise Table 1.3 allows you to check off all the views or images of God that you presently have. As you complete this exercise, remember that there is no right or wrong answers, just

a simple visual reaction of how you view your God. Considering the fact that God is light, and if that light is properly perceived and reflected on your life, you may eventually identify the Pearl Within you. However, if your view of God is tainted or tinted away from His true light, your true value may be hiding behind the tint. You will be asked a few times during the Pearl Within Journal to come back to this table to see if your reflection is changing. In the table below, we have included a check mark at the starting point (now) and one when you finish the Journal. Check Mark at Starting Point

Check Mark at Starting Point

Readerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Check List of Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Attributes 1. Majestic 2. Forgiving 3. Loving 4. Merciful 5. Just and Fair in His Judgments 6. Caring 7. Creative 8. Humorous 9. Light 10. Approachable 11. Provider of our needs 12. Ever present and available for individuals 13. My personal Healer 14. Worker of Miracles 15. Has angels assist Him to carry out his work 16. Gave His Son Jesus as a means to allow me to approach Him 17. Father to the Fatherless 18. Truthful 19. He is my closest friend 20. Desires to communicate and exchange with me on a daily basis 21. Sees humanity as the apple of his eye 22. Too good to send people to hell 23. Judgmental 24. Demanding 25. Mean 26. Unapproachable 27. Cruel 28. Unfair 29. Hurtful 30. Distant from humans or myself 31. Provides no means for me to interact with Him 32. Is always angry at humanity 33. Just waiting to prove everyone is a sinner to send them to hell 34. Loves wealthy or good people but not me

35. Has given up on me Exercise Table 1.3

Your view of God as well as your evaluation and rating of the rooms/areas of your life will be considered your starting point. One of the main intents of the Pearl Within journal is to shift your starting point as well as your views of yourself to find the Pearl Within you. This means you will be challenged and motivated to see things as they really are; based on the true life, true light, and true source of life. Your first challenge will be to understand how God desires to be viewed, in reference to His relationship with humanity. There are many views, but I desire to challenge you to one-end of the spectrum to expand your thinking towards God. Let’s begin: Imagine for a moment a relationship between you and your fiancé or spouse where they sang a personal song over you. In return, you wrote a song and sang it to them. If this type of intimacy actually occurred, you would feel very close and intimate with this person. In fact, you may start interacting and exchanging with them on a close and personal level. The emotional and spiritual aspect of writing and singing a song for each other and personally singing over the other person may be the open door for further intimacy that carries the relationship into new realms of understanding, appreciation, and exchanging intimate feelings. This simple example of imagination probably has you feeling desperate for a relationship like this. Well, there is great news for you! The very person who treats you like this, and views humanity in the same way is God -- Himself. That’s right. Listen to the words in Zephaniah 3:17 “The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.”

I am not sure how you checked the list in Table 1.3 on your view of God, but I challenge you to start stepping up your perspective to view God for everything He is. The more you see of God (who is light), the more of His nature and attributes are reflected and refracted in you. This is the very concept in Genesis that God intended when He said “Let us make man in our Image, so God created man in His own image”(Genesis 1:27). This means that we are a lot more like God than we think because He decided to create us in His Image. His image can truly reflect from and in me, when I find the light of His image in me. So, your challenge going into Journey 2 is to imagine God singing over you; therefore, you desire to write and sing a song back to God. In other words, the simple imagery I gave you can become real between you and God. To help you along, below are the lyrics of “I want to Sing a Song,” by the group Third Day.

Song by Third Day We encourage you to purchase this song once you have listened to the lyrics at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iae86AVBdK4

Sing a song I want to sing a song for You, Lord Lord, for You I want to sing a song And I want to lift my voice to Heaven And listen to the angels sing along A song of Your faithfulness A song of Your grace And of Your loving kindness To the glory of Your name With everything that's in me, Lord Listen to me say I want to sing a song for You I want to sing a song And I want to live my life for You, Lord Lord, for You I want to live my life And I want to praise the name of Jesus And Pray above all things You're glorified A song of Your faithfulness A song of Your grace And of Your loving kindness To the glory of Your name With everything that's in me, Lord Listen to me say I want to sing a song for You I want to sing a song I sing about Your mercy I sing about Your love Your goodness, Lord Your righteousness I want to sing a song of Your faithfulness A song of Your grace And of Your loving kindness To the glory of Your name With everything that's in me, Lord Listen to me say I want to sing a song for You I want to sing a song

Personal Pearls of Wisdom _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________

Song of Your faithfulness, Lord And of Your loving kindness

To the glory of Your name With everything that's in me, Lord Listen to me say I want to sing a song for You I want to sing a song And we'll sing holy, holy, holy Holy, holy, holy Holy, holy, are You Lord almighty?

So, your starting point is to see how you have been viewing God, examine the clutter in the rooms of your life, and start seeing God sing over you and you over Him. If He is singing over you, are you hearing Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s music and voice? Or, have you only heard what your parents and church told you about God?

Things I want to exchange with God after this Journey: _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________

Journey 2 – Facing your Past, Present, and Future Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises (shines) upon you. ~ Isaiah 60:1

“You will never meet your fullest future until God’s light transcends your past, present and future to reconnect you to who He always created you to be.” ~ Michael L. Mathews

The image below is a picture of a photo of what meteorologist’s call a Cloud Halo. The definition of a Halo in the sky is “The ring of light that seems to encircle the sun or moon when veiled by cirrus clouds.” This phenomena is created when the cirrus clouds are in a heterogeneous arrangement to reflect and refract the sunlight through the ice crystals in the clouds. The ice crystals in the cirrus clouds serve as prisms of lights that both reflect and refract light.

Below is another example of a Halo that represents a complete circle of brilliance by the ice crystal prisms within a cirrus cloud. The prisms or ice crystals are so connected to each other that it results in a form that represents completeness.

If your life was connected like these ice crystal prisms, your life would also produce the same form of symetry and completeness as the cloud halo. And, what if this connectedness of your life included your past, present, and future. If you could imagine that this type of completeness is possible, then the only missing ingredient would be the source of light that shines through the crystals of your past, present and future. This may sound way too simple, yet this is the Journey of this chapter. This would be an opportune time to go back to the song by Sanctus Real and listen to the portion of the song that reminds you that God is up to something bigger than you; something heavenly inside of you. In order for this portion of the Journey to make sense, you must understand that God may be much bigger, broader, and more phenomenal that you ever thought possible. Let it be known that God desires, longs, and waits for you to allow this greater aspect of Him to shine in all aspects of your life, including your past, present and future. Bringing out an often missed aspect of God Our modern day society has been overexposed to certain aspects of God that have blinded people to some other key aspects of God. The aspect of God that often gets overlooked is the aspect that God describes himself as the light of life. Below are some of the scripture passages that describe this aspect. 

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Praise the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty. He wraps himself in light as with a garment; he stretches out the heavens like a tent and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters. He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind. (Psalms 104:1-3) When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (John 8:12) While I am in the world, I am the light of the world. (John 9:5)

I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. (John 12:46) This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him, there is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5)

Out of curiosity go back to Exercise 1.3 and see if you selected ‘light’ as one of the attributes of God. We all need to appreciate the many attributes of God such as love, mercy, grace, kindness, justice, etc. However, when we finally see God as light, and understand how powerful and transforming light is; we may have an opportunity to allow that light to both reflect and refract upon our life. When we comprehend this light, we can start seeing God’s beauty, and how His beauty allows us to reflect our own beauty. When we refuse, or unknowingly deny this light, we lose sight of God’s true power. Without this light searching for the Pearl Within may be a long and/or wasted journey.

The reason many people miss the foundational element of God being light, is simply because we all strive for ‘love’. Because we search so hard and desperately for love, we tend to cling to people, relationships, spouses, churches, and even believe in the portions of God that make us feel loved. Love is important; however, love by itself does not illuminate things or speed things up. In fact, love mixed with passion often blinds people. This explains why people who only see love without light get blind sighted fairly frequently; including their relationships and religion. Therefore, we can biblically and appropriately say, that without God’s Light, which is His defining attribute, we cannot see love, justice, grace, mercy, kindness, peace, joy, faith, patience in their purest sense. And, without seeing them in their purest sense, we settle for the human version of these attributes. History has proven that man’s version of these attributes are often manipulated and distorted. This explains why there are thousands of religions that are divided on the simple essence of God’s grace, mercy, justice, salvation, love, faith etc. Each denomination has not properly reflected the Light of Life on these attributes, simply because they do not put the defining attribute first; LIGHT!

Now that we can appreciate that God is Light, let’s define some unique characteristics of light. Light’s defining characteristics include speed and illumination. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second and illuminates any darkness that exists in its presence. In fact, light is so fast, that it actually reaches its destination at the same time it left its starting point. This phenomenal attribute of light is why God references Himself as the Great I AM. Because He is light, he was at the end at the same time that He was at the beginning. Jesus also echo’s the same words; before I was, I AM. This also means that my God is able to transcend all time, including my past, present, and future. God’s attribute of light means that when my past began, that same light was at the end of my future. It traveled through my past, present, and future simultaneously. It is fair to say that Hollywood never invented time-travel, rather God is time travel. He is the Great I AM. Because light is so fast this is the reason that God states that one thousand years to humanity is as one day to the Lord. No wonder God knew me before I was born, and knows in advance my choices and ultimate destiny. He as light traveled through my past and destiny before I ever left my mother’s womb. On a positive note, it is no wonder he can correct my past, my present, and re-invent my future all within a split second dream, vision, or circumstance. It may also be how He can relate to all my infirmities and temptations; he traveled through them and experienced them before I was born. Let’s take a minute and compare our human love to God’s light. Upon comparison, we can start seeing a vast contrast between the two; describing why there are so many issues when we strive only for the love side of a relationship. Table 2.1 shows the contrast between love and light.

Attributes of Love Love is more of a feeling than a fact Love can be fleeting at times Love can cause us to be blind at times. When love is pure and true it feels awesome When love is abused, it hurts or destroys a person, feelings and relationship. When love is right; my life improves and goes forward When love is wrong, my life moves backwards. Hatred, bitterness, and envy can squash or minimize human love. Variable – Can be fast, stagnant, slow, or regressive. God did not say ‘Let us create love’ God did not say let your love shine before men, so they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven. Love let’s me like, judge, or dislike someone else. God did not say that ‘The love of the body is the eye; and if your eye be full of love, your whole body will be full of love.’ Satan does not need to disguise himself as an angel of Love, because it would cast out fear. “Perfect love casts out all fear.” (1 John 4:18)

Attributes of Light Light is more fact than a feeling Light is always constant Light always exposes blindness/darkness Light is always pure and true You can never abuse light; it always exposes truth, and separates light from darkness. Light always improves things and moves things forward Light cannot be wrong, and when used it always moves my life forward. Darkness cannot squash light. There is no conqueror of light. Constant – Always Fast (Travels at 186,000 miles/second) God did say “let us create light’ God did say ‘let your light shine before men, so they see your good works and glorify your father in heaven.’ Light lets me see things for what they really are, as it exposes things. God did say that ‘The light of the body is the eye; and if your eye be full of light, your whole body will be full of love.’ (Matt 6:22) Satan tries to disguise himself as an angel of Light. Because this is the perfect impersonation of God. Satan tries to reflect himself in our lives. (II Cor. 11:14)

Also, it could be because humans destroy love all by themselves; no help is necessary. Medical research did not discover ‘love deprivation disorder.’

Medical research did discover light deprivation disorder as part of seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Table 2.1 – The contrast between love and light

By examining table 2.1 a person can rationalize, that light is the one constant force that comes from God. His Love is also perfect, but humans have a tendency to modify and easily distort God’s love. The great news is that there is no way humans can distort God’s light. Humans can only ignore light. In the 23rd Psalm, King David describes the feeling of walking through the valley of the shadow of death, yet fears no evil. He fears no evil because he openly admits that a light is shining in his circumstance (Psalms 23). He admits by stating that there is a shadow, and wherever there is a shadow means that there is also a light shining into the darkness. Without light, there can be no shadow. Imagine the power that is unleashed when I recognize that God is not just love, but Light! This revelation of Light combined with love was given that we could begin to see things that we never saw before. That light might begin to reflect and refract on the issues of my life, and allow me to finally see the pearl or pearls within me; that were only viewed as irritants to me before.

Let me give you one of my personal examples. One day this concept of light versus love dawned on me; and I started to search for more meaning in my marriage, my life, and my walk with God. This search allowed me to put the love for Mike in a better perspective. My fear and worry about the limitations of how much we loved each other began to vanish. When I decided to see God’s light, and the light within Mike, I could see who both God and Mike truly were. The elusive nature of feelings and emotions no longer mattered; whereas they controlled me in the past. The new reflection of light caused my life, marriage and relationship with God to skyrocket to a new level, and continues to grow. Looking back what I was really saying was; I chose to no longer worry over the elusiveness of love, but have a flashlight shined into my life and my Mike’s life. That light of God shines and reveals the reflection of myself in Mike, and his reflection into me. We were instantly more compatible, respectful, and true to each other; a feeling we never had when we were fretting if we loved each other. I believe I choose at that moment in my life to let God’s light shine, and Mike’s light shine to the point I found a new respect, new admiration, and new future for my marriage, my relationship, and myself with God. Through this experience or exchange, I found that I operated less from emotion and more from facts that light revealed. This should not have surprised me because light exposes facts, while human love expresses emotion. Human love had a very strange way of having me always doubt, fear, worry, and at times think evil, condemning, and spiteful thoughts. My experience was a revelation that is explained in Matthew 6:22-23. The light of the body is the eye and if my eye be single/clear my whole body will be full of life; but if my eye is evil, my whole body is full or darkness, and oh how great is that darkness. This light that began to shine in me began a work on my mind, rather than just my heart. My new found light was amazing as things changed and opened up to me like never before. Have you ever noticed that when you buy a different make, model, and color of automobile, that suddenly you start noticing how many more people drive the exact same make and model that you are driving? It now seems as if everyone suddenly has one just like yours. My experience of light is much the same way. Once I accepted and allowed God to shine His light upon my life and circumstances, I started to notice things being exposed by His light, which were normally hidden from my view. In addition, my understanding and desire for change sped up. Light fulfilled its purpose in me; it exposed darkness and sped things up. Let’s try a quick exercise that may help personalize what is being communicated about the contrast between love and light. Take a few minutes and fill in the ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions in Exercise 2.2 Yes No Have you ever been hurt by light? (do not include the last sunburn you had) Have you ever been hurt by love? Has new light or information in a dark situation ever revealed something that had previously been hidden from your view? Has new love ever revealed something that had not been hidden from your view? Has someone ever hurt you with light? Has someone ever hurt you with passion or love? Have you ever felt emotionally bankrupt over light? Have you ever felt emotionally bankrupt over love? Has light ever blinded you to truth, common sense, or logic?

Has love ever blinded you to truth, common sense, or logic? Has light ever held you back in life? Has a love relationship ever held you back in life? Exercise 2.2 - Personal Love versus Light Contrast Exercise Now, let’s take a very personal Biblical example that connects the concept that light from God is far superior then the feelings of love. Light has the potential to change circumstances that love by itself cannot. Love from God is phenomenal in many ways; Biblical Example: (Acts 9) The religious leader (Saul), later named Paul was a religious leader who initially missed the fact that Jesus Christ was the Messiah; the light that was changing the world. This lack of seeing the light, created great confusion for him, and as a religious leader he made a drastic mistake and concurred with his religious peers that Christians must be killed. They were convinced that Christianity was a cult that was working against the organization of religion. Saul/Paul was a zealous religious person who had hated the truth of Jesus Christ. One day on the way to Damascus, an amazing light flashed around Saul. The light was so powerful that it knocked him off his horse. Immediately, Saul knew that it was the Lord who was examining his life at that very moment. Saul knew it was the Lord by the mere confession of saying, “who are you Lord?’ Through all his years of religious training, Saul never experienced nor understood that the Lord was such a bright light like this. The light blinded Saul and he could not see for a few days. However, God got his attention by replying, “This is Jesus, the one you persecute. Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what to do next.” To make a long story short, Saul became the Apostle Paul, and went on in many ways to lead the New Testament church, and write many of the New Testament Bible books. In other words, during one flash of light of completeness, Saul/Paul’s entire past, present, and future was healed and revealed. God’s light of completeness healed one of the vilest religious leaders. Let’s review the table below to capture the events that happened in his experience to help your relate to your own moment of light that may be on its way. Fact about Saul/Paul Paul was a zealous religious murderer of Christians Paul states that the light that knocked him off his horse was ‘around’ him, and in one passage states, it was a ‘complete’ light.

God cleansed his past for a greater purpose in his future.

What God and Light Did in Saul/Paul’s Circumstance Instantaneously made him a completely new person, past, present, and future. Light formed a completeness around Saul. He was being healed from his past, present, and future. He was made a completely new man. The light reflected and refracted off his past, present, and future. Possibly much like the crystals in the Halo effect. When Christians first heard that Saul the murdered was now cleansed, they argued with God. God told them ‘He is now a chosen vessel unto God.

Scripture Reference Acts 7:58; Acts 9:1; Acts 9:13 Acts 9:3; Acts 22:6; Acts 26:13

Acts 9:15; Acts 9:21

God revealed the true pearl within Saul via the light that flashed around Paul.

Light came before love; but once light came, the pure love could come. Light did exactly what its two attributes do best, sped up the process and illuminated things.

God’s light in this process is one of the greatest human examples. It shows that God can even take his own irritants (a murderer of Christians) and find the pearl within them. This shows all of us greater hope! Notice that light shined into Saul’s darkness before love did. Imagine if the local church group said we need to invite Saul to church and love him before we can introduce him to Jesus. Jesus’ light shined down, gave full exposure, and sped up his transformation. Remember the defining attributes of light; 1) speed and 2) illumination.

Acts 9:15

Acts 7:58; Acts 9:1; Acts 9:13

Table 2.3 – Defining Attributes of Saul/Paul’s Encounter with Light

Personal Pearls of Wisdom List any areas of your life that you wish a similar light would “Zap.” Don’t forget to list the Pearls you have found within. Also, please visit the Pearl Within Blog at http://www.focusonheaven.com/pearlwithin.html to share your thoughts, questions and breakthroughs. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________

The story of the Apostle Paul should give great hope for every circumstance you may have been through. I am of the opinion that Paul had to see so much light at one time because he had so much past baggage. A sense of love by the local church group was not going to wipe out his reality of killing Christians. Saul allowed God’s light to shine through to pierce his past, present, and future so He could truly love the Lord with all his heart mind and soul. God’s light is all empowering and transforming. It should be noted that this great transformation of light is what gave Paul the love he needed for the Jews and Gentiles, as well as his enemies. It is amazing how love is a natural outcome of God light, but when we put love first, or love as a message all by itself, it is a back-wards message that disappoints many people. This is why Jesus stated in Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men that they may see good works and glorify your father in heaven.” Jesus did not say, “Let your love so shine before men so they could see your good works.” The reason that light comes first in the sequence is because light (not love) fulfills God’s original purpose for the good works. Light in me, versus love in me, allows people to glory God, not me or my love. If people see my love and my good works they will tend to give me the credit and the glory, instead of God. If they see the light that is in me through Christ, they will give him the Glory, knowing that my good works can only come through His light within me. The same concept is true with the Apostle Paul. If he had been ‘loved’ by a church group into forgiveness or relationship with Jesus, he would have had quickly given thanks/glory to the Church, or people instead of God.

Now that you get the idea of light and love, please complete Exercise 2.4 and list your own past personal issues that you will pray for God’s light to shine on! If you are like the apostle Paul and went as far as murder, please include that as well, as God forgives everything; if we let His light ‘Jesus’ shine on it. Prayer -- If the Apostle Paul could be forgiven of murder in his past, Lord please shine on the following past issues of my life and forgive me. Shine your light in such a way that your light transcends my past, present, and future to form the perfect Halo in my life. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Exercise 2.4 – List of My Past Issues

We are getting into the heart of this chapter; the transforming power of God’s light. In the Apostle Paul’s story of forgiveness, we find in (Acts 9:9-15) that a fellow Christian called Ananias was hurt by Paul’s acts of murder. Ananias was not ready to forgive Paul’s sinful acts of murder, and follow God’s request to pray for Paul to be a blessing to the world. Nonetheless, the Lord’s light also showed Ananias that even though he was offended, and hurt by murder, he could forgive Paul and endorse His new future. Once again, there are not many greater acts of forgiveness than forgiving someone who murdered your friends and/or family members. Yet, God’s light is able to transcend the issues, circumstances, time, and our individual purposes to give each and every human being hope. This means that God is willing to forgive perpetrators who went as far as torture or murder; and He gives the ability for the people who were violated against in such cases to forgive the perpetrators. A person no longer has to be bitter over past violations. This is amazing, as bitterness is like drinking your own poison and expecting the other person to die. This portion of the journal may be extremely difficult for some people, so please do not rush through this next exercise. Rather consider the following three items as examples to follow. 1. In Exercise 2.4 above, it was probably easier to ask and believe God to forgive your own past issues, than it is to ask God to forgive someone who may have violated you. Let me challenge you to consider the fact that the reason it is so hard is because you are trying to forgive them in your own human love; versus letting God forgive them in His transforming light. When God forgives them, and you like Ananias believe it, then you could possibly see God’s reflection in the person who God forgave. Ananias had to go and pray for Paul and look at his new found light that was being reflected in Paul. If we let God forgive them through His light, then your human love and forgiveness can follow. Also, if you follow scripture, which says; ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you;’ then you should believe God for their forgiveness in exercise 2.2, with the same belief you had for God to shed light and forgiveness on your issues. 2. As followers of Christ, we must attempt to follow His actions. Jesus was violated in the most severe and traumatic manner before He was killed. Yet, after the violations of His name, identity, physical being, his position, his flesh, His blood, His pride, He still prayed for his violators and killers to be forgiven. Christ experienced violations until death to help fulfill the passage; that states that Jesus felt our infirmities and was tempted in every way that we have been, yet without sin. (Heb. 4:15; Mat. 8:17) Jesus went the fullest distance of violations to relate to our violations. 3. The missing piece of information that we will not know until we get to heaven is the depths of pain and experiences that Christ went through between His death and resurrection. We do not know exactly what exactly happened during that 3-day period that Jesus went to the heart of the earth (Matthew 12:40) to set captives free. However, what we do know is that Jesus experienced all levels of our infirmities and overcame all dominions, powers, authorities, and conquered even deaths very sting. He traveled the distance for you and me, so we can truly claim that by His stripes we are healed! “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5 The Biblical reality is that Jesus went the full distance of being ‘violated’ to give us confidence that no matter how we were violated; we like Christ can ask for their forgiveness. This in no way in-validates what people experienced or went through. There will always be people that experienced unbelievable and/or traumatic setbacks that are

extremely unique and personal. In no way is it God’s design to invalidate their situation or circumstance by merely implying it was not as bad as what His son Jesus suffered. Some people who cannot see the fullness of Christ’s travels and experiences conclude that Christ could not have experienced what they did. However, it is not Christ’s purpose to have humanity compare ‘severity of wounds’. It is also not Christ’s desire to expect me to experience what He went through, before forgiving others. Christ states that we are not in a war of flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. If I make my issues about violations of the flesh; then I may be missing the real cause and consequences of the violation that are in the spiritual realm. (Ephesians 6:10) I am so thankful that through Christ, God provided a means for all of us to be healed in numerous belief systems based on the various things Christ went through. People can choose to:

1. With child like faith, accept the fact that by Christ’s stripes they can be healed from anything! I believe God is well pleased with this kind of child like faith. 2. By focusing on the extreme death and violations that Christ suffered, they can say He set the example for them; therefore, they too can forgive their accusers or violators. 3. By understanding that Jesus traveled to the depths/heart of the earth and overcame every evil power, dominion, principality, and death; He has overcome and paid the price for their wounds, their transgressions and their transgressors. I therefore can have the faith to forgive and receive forgiveness. 4. With child like faith, believe that in some supernatural way, in the spiritual realm of light, that Jesus truly experienced everyone’s infirmities. If He walked my walk without sin; then I too can make an attempt to forgive and be forgiven. 5. With complete confidence and belief that if Jesus is light, that He can travel through my past, present, and future and experience everything they did and take claim that He was personally tempted in every way they were. They believe that the I AM, light of the world transforms, heals, cleanses, and forgives. And, with this resurrected Christ living in them, they can forgive and be forgiven. No matter what belief people use to allow them to be healed and/or forgive others is of less concern than the central reality and truth. That reality and truth is that it was Christ’s blood that removed everyone’s sins. Jesus’ light is powerful enough to shine in each circumstance to ensure His death and resurrection was not in vain. Please take your time in Exercise 2.5 and process your past issues where someone has violated you in a small or severe manner, and ask God to shed His transforming light into that past circumstance, and forgive the violators so your past can be healed. When your past is healed and connected to God’s light then your present life as well as future life will be complete.

Prayer -- If Jesus and Ananias could forgive their violators; Lord please shine on the violators who committed the following violations against me. I am asking your transforming light to transcend my past, present and future to form a perfect halo in my life. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Exercise 2.5 – List of Past Violations Committed Against Me You have just listened and processed some of the most simple, yet most powerful promises found in the Bible. God’s light shines in such a way that we along with Him can transcend our past issues into our future. Allowing God’s light to transcend these issues allows them to pass through the illumination of God’s light for a complete healing. I, like the Halo, can form the completeness that God always intended for me. Remember, the two great attributes of light are speed and illumination. This self-completeness includes my past, present, and my future. My past, present, and future are also connected very closely to the three things that God said we are to worship him with; our hearts, our minds, and our souls. God says that He desires us to worship him with all our heart, all my mind, and all my soul. Unfortunately, during most of my Christian walk I had been exposed only to the heart Personal Pearls of side of my life. About six years ago, I learned that I had only Wisdom developed 1/3 of the aspects that God was looking for me to ________________________ serve and worship him with. I strived, functioned, and operated ________________________ on Christian love, God’s love, the Church’s love, the pastors love, ________________________ my husband’s love to the point that my love ‘balloon’ was ready ________________________ to burst. It was ready to burst because I did not develop my ________________________ ________________________ mind and my soul. Without developing my mind and my soul, ________________________ how could I truly love God with all my heart, mind and soul? I ________________________ realized that until God’s light came in its fullness, my mind did ________________________ not want to deal with the past, and therefore my soul could not ________________________ encompass my own fullness of whom God wanted and created ________________________ me to be. This kind of behavior adds to the disappointments that ________________________ ________________________ love-based relationships bring. The true light allowed me to see ________________________ my entire heart, mind, and soul as the completeness of who God ________________________ always desired me to be. I have forgiven myself, my violators or ________________________ transgressors, stopped operating off emotion, and allowed God’s ________________________ light to reflect and refract off of all things in my life. No wonder I ________________________ have found some pearls! ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________

Reflection and Refraction Reflection is where the source of light bounces off an object and it comes back toward the source of light. For instance when the sun hits a piece of flat metal, the light rays reflect off the metal back at the sun, giving a reflection from the Sun. Refraction is where the source of light bounces off an object and depending on the angle and composition of the object, the light passes through one dimension and out another dimension. For instance, when the sun hits a three-sided piece of glass or a prism, the sun passes through

one side and comes out the other dimensions in a potentially new form of light ray(s). This concept of reflection and refraction is what is happening when we open up our past, present, and future, as a three-dimensional view for Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s light to pass through. His light can pass through my present circumstances, and if I let His light shine on my past, it will illuminate my past as well as my future on the other side; making my own personal completeness. However, if I choose to shut down areas of my past, the light of God cannot come through and expose, illuminate, heal, and bring it cleanly into my future. I remain incomplete. Many people may ask; how does this reflection and refraction take place to heal my past and my future? Step back and think about the many dreams you have. If you are mindful over your dreams, you will notice that you have dreams that include past childhood memories, past memories in general, present circumstances, and future events that you have not yet lived. All these dreams (most allowed by God) is a manner in which God can show us the past, present, and future in an effort to allow us to reflect on the past, and refract into the future. In fact, the refraction is why many futuristic dreams may seem so strange. It appears distorted. God allows and gives dreams to help people get into the right future. And God Chose Dreams by Michael L. Mathews is an excellent resource to see all the Biblical examples of dreams that helped people get where they were supposed to be; and in many cases, the fulfillment of the dream healed their past. Take a few minutes and complete Exercise 2.6 pertaining to your dreams Question Yes No 1. Have you had dreams about your past circumstances? 2. Have you had dreams about your present circumstances? 3. Have you had dreams about your future? 4. Have you developed a method to process your dreams to allow them to help you with your past, present, future? List any dreams that have been life changing for you: 1. 2. 3. 4. List any dream that you have had numerous times, yet cannot understand 1. 2. 3. For more information on Dreams visit http://www.focusonheaven.com Exercise 2.6 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Dreams Exercise Please take a few minutes, reflect on what is being conveyed, and answer the questions in Exercise 2.7 Thoughts Going through Your Mind -Exercise 1. This all makes perfect sense and I am excited for my healing! 2. This all makes perfect sense but seems too easy to be true!

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3. I will need to process this, as I too have been over inflated with love, and never thought about light. 4. I am completely perplexed by what is being presented! 5. I cannot wait to share this with others!

Exercise 2.7 – Personal Viewpoint Considering that this concept is so simple, yet so revealing, we will continue as we have with a few more Biblical examples. The Biblical examples will help you take special notice of God’s light as well as his transcending power from the past into the future. Biblical example 1: (Acts 7:54 -59) In Acts 7, Stephen was being stoned and killed by the religious leaders, including Saul. Stephen takes his beating and stoning by the violators with great grace because he did something many of us refuse or don’t know how to do. He allowed his reflection and refraction to shine in the midst of the circumstance. Listen to the words that are spoken in this passage. “But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “ Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:55, 56, 59, 60) These words are powerful because Stephen allowed himself to look toward heaven and reflect, as well as refract back and forth with Heaven. Before they stoned Stephen, he was able to see into heaven and view the glory of God, which also reflected back toward him, giving him the strength for the moment, as well as forgive them in advance of what they were doing to him. Imagine this kind of power that allows you to see into a circumstance, view heavenly details, and reach into the future and forgive someone who is stoning you to death. Most of us cannot forgive people until after the violation has been completed against us. Stephen did it before they completed violating him. He did it right in the midst of the circumstance. This is not love; this is the power of light! There was no love-fest going on in this circumstance; it was a light-fest, where the power, glory and light of God opened up to Stephen. In a split second he was able to reflect on his recent sermon he delivered (Acts 7:2-54), and refracted into his future to see his position with Christ in heaven; giving him the ability to say ‘forgive’ the sin. Can you be like Stephen and forgive your violators?

Biblical Example 2 Before we get into the exact Biblical example, let me give you some background on a word that is not used very often. The word is called quickened, and it is used to illustrate the concept of speeding up something, making someone more alert or aware about something, and/or bringing something to life. Scripture uses this word in Romans 8:11 (KJV) to demonstrate an experience we all can have when we let the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwell in us. This is why it is not strange that Stephen and millions of other martyrs can joyfully be killed. They are experiencing a ‘quickening’ or ‘coming alive’ feeling that comes from the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead. What an awesome thought to know that not only was Jesus raised, resurrected, and made alive, but we may also get to experience this at times. “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.” Romans 8:11. This passage verifies that Jesus was raised from the dead by the Spirit of God. It is worthy to note that this Spirit that can quicken us, also quickened or rose Christ from the dead. Just prior to being raised from the dead Jesus echoed the words ‘It is finished!’ Many people over simplify this and say it was in reference to His death, but the reality is that he was just made alive again. What He was more than likely echoing are the very things that he saw just prior to the Spirit raising him from the dead. The things he saw were probably the kind of things that Stephen witnessed just prior to His death, and then some! What Christ saw was so powerful, wonderful, and majestic that darkness invaded the land for three hours, an

Challenge Question: Have you Ever Been Quickened? Have you ever had a stressful or dramatic experience in life where things seem to move in slow motion, and you could see everything around you as if they were in fine detail? Quite a few people experienced stressful situations where things seem to speed up and slow down all at the same time. The slow down looks like it is happening because suddenly they are seeing very vivid detail around them, yet things are moving rapidly because of the circumstances. For instance most police office in high speed chases recall the vivid details that most people never pay attention to, yet the events of the chase and what happened after the chase went so quick that it seemed over before it began. For those people who have had this type of experience it is a very surreal moment and strange experience. During these moments what transpires is that you are being ‘quickened’ or made alive in a difference sense to the things around you, that normally go completely un-noticed. It is very possible when Stephen was being stoned that he was quickened in his spirit so that he could see heaven, and Christ sitting on His right side, while he was still on earth. Scripture says ‘If that same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwell in you; it will quicken your mortal body. (Romans 8:11 KJV). earthquake split the temple in two, and many dead saints arose from their graves (Matthew 27:52:53). Not only did the Spirit raise Christ from the dead, but the Spirit also rose many who had been dead. At that moment, they got out of their graves, and walked into Jerusalem. Yes, this fact is often overlooked, but it is right in scripture. The Spirit of the Living God was quickening this special moment in time to allow the real story (His-Story) to be visualized by His own Son. More than likely what Jesus saw in a split ‘quickening’ moment was the experience of things becoming fast motion and slow motion at the same

time. He probably saw in a split split-second the entire past, present, and future flash with a bright light that allowed him to endure the pain He was going through. Within in a splitsecond he saw the reconnection of humanity all the way from the history of humanity, through present day humanity, and out into the future of humanity all being saved by His personal sacrifice. When He saw this, He was able to say… it is finished!! God and Christ who are Light, traveled in that moment throughout history and into the future to save each and every soul ever born and that will ever be born. It was the greatest quickening experience known to humanity. That same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead desires to quicken your entire life, which includes your past, present, and future; but will you let Him? Jesus had to first become obedient unto death before He saw His quickening moment. You too, must become obedient onto the death of your own sins, and people who have sinned against you, in order to reconnect you past, present, and future. This will be your own ‘quickening’ moment. As you recall, we started this Journey with the photos of the Halo Affect where light is able to shine in a complete circle around all aspects of the ice crystals in a cloud. Are you ready to let God’s light shine into all past, present, and future aspects of your life, to make you who you were always created to be? You cannot forget your past if you want to get to your future. You need to heal and reconnect your past into your future. In this manner, God receives all the Glory. Spend the next few days reviewing this chapter and taking notes on your own completeness. Seek after God’s answers and light to begin to let God know that you are ever thankful for His provision to deal with your past, present and future. Do some examination on the happiest people you know. Usually the people who are the happiest are not those who had no serious mistakes, or serious violations committed against them. In fact you will most often find just the opposite is true. The happiest people are those who have traveled through the mountains and valleys of life and learned how to thank God for bringing them through the circumstance, as well as forgive themselves and others. For this reason, the next Journey is on Thankfulness. “People must die before they are fully born to live to their fullest potential. Death of self allows one to see the truth that God knew them from their birth unto their death -- all at the same time. This reflection of self in God’s light, heals the whole person and launches them into their future.” ~Michael L. Mathews

Personal Pearls of Wisdom Do not be surprised after reading this chapter if you start having some amazing revelations and re-connections with people from the past: Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t forget to list the Pearls you have found within. Also, please visit the Pearl Within Blog at http://www.focusonheaven.com/pearlwithin.html to share your thoughts, questions and breakthroughs. __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________

Journey 3 - Thankfulness In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:18

“If anyone would tell you the shortest, surest way to happiness and all perfection, he must tell you to make it a rule to yourself to thank and praise God for everything that happens to you. For it is certain that whatever seeming calamity happens to you, if you thank and praise God for it, you turn it into a blessing.” ~William Ward

During the past year, God has allowed me to take thankfulness to a higher and more complete level. This transition has truly allowed me to see my Pearl Within. As you recall, we mentioned that a Pearl begins by being a simple single irritant within an Oyster. The irritant begins the process of many layers of ‘cover-up’ to try and rid and protect itself from the irritant. In my life, I had built up hundreds of irritants that I decided to forget about, ignore, or in a few cases become bitter over. Once my view of thankfulness changed, I saw the irritants of my life as things to be thankful for; because they were the very things that made me who I am today. Without these irritants, I would have been a very limited human being with lesser value. However, the great secret for me was to clean out this lack of thankfulness in my mind and my heart. I was not able to see my full value until I understood the complete healing power of thankfulness for ‘all’ things. My room of thankfulness was swept, cleaned, and given a complete makeover. Let me try to explain … like many people, I had always viewed myself as a thankful type of person. I viewed myself this way because I was thankful for the good things that I could embrace in my immediate past, present and future. My view of my past, present and future were generally within a 6-12 month window of time. For instance, I was thankful for my children’s grades, my husband’s promotion, that we paid our bills last month, that my family was healthy, that we found a good church, that we found a new house, that we were going on a family vacation, that we had a good pastor, that we saw God heal our daughter’s sickness, that our mini-van was repaired, that my parents were healthy, etc. You get the idea! I was very thankful for so many things that were current or immediate in 6-12 month cycles of time. So, during most of my life, if people were to ask me if I were thankful, I would say, absolutely! This thankful life-style allowed me to progress through life in 6-12 month time frames in order to feel somewhat happy and content. This same process is possibly why the ‘Dreaded Christmas Letter was invented.’ It is a great means to reflect on your thankfulness over the last 12 months, while giving everyone an update on your family, and Christmas card all at the same time. (Long live the dreaded Christmas letter!) What changed my whole view of ‘complete’ thankfulness this past year was a new understanding of being thankful over a longer view of my life, as well as some of the perceived negative circumstances of my life. This recently found understanding was as if God’s light and love shined a huge spotlight over specific negative circumstances of my past, and healed them instantaneously. My life suddenly reflected something of greater value even though nothing changed, except my confession of thanksgiving over those secret, hidden, or forgotten circumstances I never thought possible to thank God for. I am still amazed at what God’s light and love illuminated in me. The thought of giving thanks for

these things years ago was just un-comprehendible. Listen to the things that started to come out of my mouth, once I understood the completeness of thanksgiving!  

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Thank you that my husband was an alcoholic for the first five years of our marriage! This gave me an idea of what spouse’s of alcoholics go through. Thank you that I was insecure over many things in my life! This allowed me to be dependent on God and thirst after his righteousness. Thank you that I was stubborn over things that made Personal Pearls of no sense to be stubborn over, this helped me Wisdom understand that fear and ignorance is the root of _____________________________ stubbornness. _____________________________ Thank you I have dealt with such prideful people! It _____________________________ made me look at myself and realize I was a prideful _____________________________ person as well. _____________________________ Thank you that my children are not perfect! No one _____________________________ has perfect children, but they learn by their mistakes. _____________________________ _____________________________ Thank you my marriage was a mess for the first five _____________________________ years! I find that I am able to help women who are in _____________________________ similar circumstances. I found how dependent on God _____________________________ I really am for my marriage to work. _____________________________ Thank you for the disagreements in my relationships! _____________________________ This allowed me to see who people really are and love _____________________________ _____________________________ them unconditionally. _____________________________ Thank you that I lived in fear during the majority of _____________________________ my life! I now realize that most people live in some _____________________________ type of fear, and that only faith can conquer fear. _____________________________ Thank you for my minds confusion that created _____________________________ periodic depression! It helped me to expand my mind _____________________________ _____________________________ in proportion to my heart. God was looking for me to _____________________________ serve Him with all my heart and mind. I received a full _____________________________ cleansing of my heart and mind because of this _____________________________ struggle. _____________________________ Thank you for my financial ups and downs! I was able _____________________________ _____________________________ to look at the true meaning of wealth and not focus on _____________________________ money.

How did this new process of allowing God’s light to reflect on my perceived issues come into being? I was listening to Mike speak to a group of leaders who were just discussing the topic of ‘repenting over the past circumstances in a specific area of sin.’ A specific person on the leadership team stated that they did not think this group of leaders could progress forward until there was another attempt at repenting over the issue(s) at hand. My husband quickly replied and said … “I do not believe God’s desire is to have us keep repenting over the same issues over and over.” Rather he felt that the group needed to release God’s revelation into the situation. Within seconds, there was a moving of God’s presence that allowed one person after another to start thanking God for the issues of life that we have felt shameful of, and had repented over numerous times already. Suddenly there was the most quick and powerful presence of God’s Spirit that I had felt in my life. It was as if

people were giving God praise for the irritants of their life, even if they were negative experiences. What I witnessed was a supernatural healing of the things that people were covering up, hiding, or could not get permanent healing from. For the next year, Mike preached and shared in numerous settings and allowed a new form of worship to take place by giving full thanks to God. I was part of this process in numerous settings. Over and over I witnessed people beginning the process of thanking God for things that they never knew they should or could be thankful for. Time and again, most people stated that they felt a healing or release from the very thing that hindered their life. These hundreds of people along with myself, experienced a supernatural exchange with God that set them free from years of hidden and shameful experiences. Metaphorically speaking, I witnessed people spitting into the face of their own shame, satan’s accusations, and releasing issues that were irritants in their life for years. The positive confession of thanksgiving was an open exchange with God; whose light, love, and spirit are so powerful that when the areas of hurt were exposed by confession of thanks, they were instantaneously healed. It was like a radiation treatment hitting a spot of cancer, and watching it vanish. Pearls Within were

being discovered! The exchange process in this ‘thanksgiving type of worship,’ is a positive spiritual confession that allows God to heal a persons past and makes them more complete. This is truly an exercise of healing, and exchange where God shows his pure and complete redemptive nature for the following three scenario’s of past shamefulness: 1) For people who have been violated by abusers, offenders, and criminal minds, God is able to fulfill His scripture that states that He will turn evil into good. This allows them to wipe away the bitterness, shame, guilt and ugliness that comes from being violated by someone else. Upon open thanksgiving, God exchanges complete healing. It is simply a process of exchange that allows your words of confession and thanksgiving to exchange with His light to allow your Pearl Within to be seen and harvested! 2) For people who have personally made a mistake in their past by putting themselves in harm’s way, or committed a crime or trespass against God or themselves, God’s light and love can allow them to be forgiven, redeemed and healed from the mistake that brings guilt and shame. Once again, upon the simple confession of thanksgiving, you exchange your past and make the irritant of shame or guilt becomes your personal Pearl Within.

3) For people who feel that they were just unfortunate, born into the wrong family, or a bad circumstance just happened to them; God is able to take that irritant and allow you to be a ‘healer’ to yourself and others with similar circumstances. He can do this by shining His light upon the confession of thanksgiving. Your exchange allows the irritants of unfortunate circumstances to be your personal Pearl Within.

I recognize that what I experienced was a glorious exchange that could only be done with my willingness to simply become thankful for the greatest irritants of my life. This exchange produced an understanding that helped me see my personal Pearl Within. But, it also gave me a fuller desire to see others experience their Pearl Within themselves. I desired to live out what the Bible states in Psalm 34:1-3. “I will bless (give thanks) to the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My life (entire life) will boast in the Lord so that the humbled and afflicted will hear (my thanksgiving) and be glad. Come on, and magnify the Lord with me, and let’s exalt his name together.”

Challenge Question: Romans 12:21 says “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Name at least two evil things that have happened in your past that you have decided to overcome with good? In other words, what two things have you exchanged that were evil in order to turn them to good? 1._________________________________________________________________________ 2._________________________________________________________________________

My sincerest desire is to get every reader to stop any hint that God is cruel and/or planned a cruel life for you. I want you to see God as He really is, and just because someone has violated you, or you have self-destructed, does not define your fate. Rather, your fate rests within your ability and willingness to reason with God and allow Him to use your Personal Pearls of afflictions and irritants to define and reveal the Pearl Within Wisdom you. Will you choose to let His light, love, and Spirit shine on your irritants by exchanging words of thanksgiving to your _____________________________ creator? Listen below to what John Henry Jowett penned as _____________________________ well as King David in the Book of Psalms. _____________________________ 

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Being thankful over my entire past and future spits in Fear’s face! Life without thankfulness is devoid of love and passion. Hope without thankfulness is lacking in fine perception. Faith without thankfulness lacks strength and fortitude. Every virtue divorced from thankfulness is maimed and limps along the spiritual road.” ~ John Henry Jowett You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever. ~ Psalm 30:11, 12 It was good for me to suffer, so that I might learn your statutes. ~ Psalm 119:71

You can quickly surmise by these three examples that there is an exchange that takes place when we openly confess that God has a reason, season and purpose for our circumstances. If you cannot embrace this simple kind of faith, please know

that His Light can zap your past issues and He can redeem/exchange the issues. Your task is to consider your willingness to let faith move you towards God’s greatness, or will you let fear continue to hide your past shame, failings, and/or violations by others. I was amazed to learn that the great Football Player Reggie White had a dream the week before he died on December 26, 2004. In his dream, he stated to his Wife Sarah that he saw two Hebrew words and understood them to be a great treasure. Upon prayer, meditation, and researching the two Hebrew words he found that the treasure was the combination of the two words meaning; “Jehovah Redeems.” Reggie found a treasure within himself before he died, and he shared it with others. This treasure is no different than the Pearl within you. Jehovah (God) redeems or exchanges with anyone and everyone who will reason out their options with Him. Upon giving God thanks, He is quick to redeem or exchange your issues to make you see your complete image inside of you. I realized that this concept of being thankful for everything is a stretch for many people. I know that it took me months to grab hold of this concept in its fullest sense. I started stumbling for words, wrestling with whose Come, let’s consider your fault it was, wondering if I could forgive those who options,” says the LORD. “Though wronged me. However, I was amazed that upon opening your sins have stained you like my mouth, a sense of instant healing and cleansing came. the color red, you can become I believe it was an act of faith to move my lips, and upon white like snow; though they are spilling out the words of confusion God became my judge. as easy to see as the color scarlet, you can become white like wool. The righteous judge working on my behalf did what He If you have a willing attitude and does best – redeemed and exchanged the confession. I obey, then you will again eat the think this is the very act that God mentions in Ecclesiastes good crops of the land. But if you 12:14 “For God will evaluate every deed, including every refuse and rebel, you will be secret thing, whether good or evil.” You see God will devoured by the sword.” Know for eventually evaluate or judge everything in secret or in certain that the LORD has spoken. open to determine whether it was good or evil. My Isaiah 1:17-19 confession gives me credit to let him evaluate or judge this in my present life. I do not want it hidden, as I desire full redemption for my sin and other people who sinned against me. Even if I sinned and caused problems, God encourages me to be willing to discuss this with him and be forgiven of everything. However, if I choose not to openly discuss, I may find that the things I hide will devour me like a sword. This is the context of Isaiah 1:17-19. I am so glad God gave options for every scenario of life; whether I am guilty or someone else is guilty. This is the very reason Jesus was able to ask God to forgive those who violated Him in every way. They violated his position, His status, His knowledge, His Name, his body, and drained His blood. I have not known this type of violation in my past. However, it gives me a reference point as to how far I could go and still give God thanks and have enough faith to ask Him to forgive the vilest of offenders and offenses against me. Now that you have read my story of finding the Pearl Within me through complete thanksgiving let us do a few exercises in our Pearl Within Journal. Some of these exercises may need to be revisited, as your ability for being free of your past and truly thanking God for all things may not occur until a few more Journeys in the Journal are complete.

Exercise 3.1 As you have read my story of raising my thanksgiving to a new level, I am sure that you have been processing your own thoughts as to the possibility for you to be thankful for past

experiences. Please rate your comfort level with thanking God for your past circumstances in Table 3.1. Please select one of the rating descriptions below. I have included two different times for you to rate your comfort level. My Ability to Thank God for Past Circumstance Easy

Somewhat Difficult

Very Difficult

Extremely Difficult

Impossible

Description

Rating Now

Rating when Journal is complete

I have always thanked God for my past circumstance. It comes natural I am in the process of thanking God for past circumstances, but it us slow going. I have thanked God for some circumstances, but find it difficult for other circumstances. I am not sure that I want to thank God for past circumstances. Don’t know why, but it doesn’t feel natural. I will try, but doubt that I can thank God for some of my past issues. I refuse to thank God for my past circumstances, as they are too painful. Table 3.1 – Ability to Thank God

Exercise 3.2 Please do not give up on processing the thanksgiving aspect. If you have a few circumstances that are too overwhelming to deal with right now, we can park those for the time being. I understand the difficulty to embrace being thankful over very stressful, traumatic, and painful experience. In some cases, before you can thank God, you have to forgive yourself or the person who violated you. Because this is so critical, I have created a parking space for these types of circumstances. This parking space will allow you to ‘Park’ any extremely painful or un-forgiven circumstances for the time being. Parking these will also allow you to move forward with thanksgiving in most other areas. No. 1. 2. 3.

Items too Difficult to Thank God about at the Present Time

Table 3.2 – Parking Space for Circumstances that are too Difficult

Exercise 3.3 Table 3.3 is a checklist that may be helpful to identify levels of thanksgiving. The column on the left includes samples of standard items that are easy to be thankful for. The column on the right are samples of items that are much more difficult to be immediately thankful over.

Standard Easy Circumstances Good health An afflicted person who gets healed A stable job or career A mortgage free house Children’s health and success The perfect and loving family that prays together, stays together, etc (you know the cliché’) Wealth or financial freedom Parents who are still married

Good church Natural ability or talented in a specific area Complete family is saved and in perfect health

More Difficult Circumstances A bad health experience An afflicted person who dies A recent job or career change that seemed unpleasant. Loss of house through foreclosure, tornado, hurricane, etc. Children who are challenging Dysfunctional family (alcoholic parent(s), addictive and abusive behavior patterns, financial distress, etc.) Financially dependent on others Divorced parents, parents in prison, adopted, or removed from home by the State. Shunned by church or don’t fit in Everything comes hard and unnatural – Must work extra hard for everything you get. Son or daughter was murdered, died in a war, died at birth, car accident, drug overdose, child raped or kidnapped, etc. Periods of time where everything turns to rust or bust. Abusive spouse A marriage always threatened by divorce Divorced Affair committed by a spouse Loss of close friends Sexually immoral or raped Undesirable in church

Periods of time where everything turns to gold Supportive spouse A great marriage that thrives Married Faithful spouse Lot’s of friends Sexually unscathed and pure Desirable in church because of knowledge or talent Successful project(s) at work Failed project(s) at work Great boss Demanding and difficult boss Blank Spaces Are for Your Personal Examples

Table 3.3 If you are able to thank God for all the events or circumstances in the left column, you are like most people who find it easy to thank God when things are going well. However, a truly thankful person is able to look at even unfortunate circumstances and reason with God on why they happened. Through the reasoning process, they learn that God ultimately is pleased when we thank him for going through afflictions, so that we are better people. Notice I did not say thank him for the afflictions, but thank Him for making it through the

afflictions to be a better person. God knows as well as most mature people do, that where there are no shipwrecks there are no lighthouses. Some of my personal shipwrecks have produced great lighthouses in my life. Mike and I have a friend who had three marriages and within these marriages, each wife eventually left on bitter terms. Through the struggles, he became a minister to an area that experiences heavy divorce rates. He became a lighthouse because of his affliction. Another friend, (Clay McClary) whose son was murdered, spent eight years of his life tracking down the murderer to kill him. After the eighth year, God told Clay that he must forgive his son’s murderer. Through the affliction, Clay went on to be a minister of the Gospel, and tell his testimony of exchanging anger for love. Clay was another shipwreck who learned to thank God for the experience. Without

Challenge Question: To error is human, to blame others is even more human. Take a step back and reflect on the last year and estimate how much time you invested either being suspicious that someone hurt you, or how much you have been hurt, versus how much time you gave negative circumstances over to God to heal and wipe the hurt out of your mind. 1. Time estimate on how much time was invested on suspicion and/or hurt: __________ hrs 2. Time estimate on how much time was invested in giving issue to God: __________hrs

thanking God, he could not be who God desired him to be. The full testimony of Clay McClary is available at http://www.focusonheaven.com/redemptioncenter.html.

Exercise 3.4 You have been challenged to think about a new level of thankfulness. Now, we are ready to embark on an actual exercise to allow you the opportunity to exchange with God on a personal level. Pick out three positive and three negative experiences you have experienced in your life. Spend 3 minutes thanking God (verbally) for the positive circumstances. Now spend three minutes thanking God for the three negative circumstances. Table 3.4 is provided for you to write down your three positive and negative circumstances, so you can focus on how you might say a prayer of thanksgiving for negative circumstances. I have added a third column called “Reasons why the negative experience ended up being valuable.” This will help you verbalize in your prayer of thanksgiving how you might be thankful that you made it through the negative circumstance. Thanking God for Three Positive Circumstances

Thanking God for Three Negative Circumstances

Reasons why the negative circumstance ended up being valuable

Exercise 3.4 Exercise 3.5. Please record how you felt after spending just three minutes on three of your negative circumstances. Also, record how hard it was to focus three full minutes on negative circumstances.

Record How you felt before, during and after the prayer:

Record how difficult this exercise felt.

______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ If you go back to the song by Sanctus Real and listen to the lyrics it sums up how you may feel … Like Chaos. “Time to face up Clean this old house Time to breathe in and let everything out That I've wanted to say for so many years Time to release all my held back tears Whatever you're doing inside of me It feels like chaos but I believe You're up to something bigger than me Larger than life something heavenly” There is no doubt what you are experiencing may feel awkward. However, the awkwardness will have tremendous payback if you follow through. Look back to Table 1.1 in Journey 1 where you rated the rooms of your life. Many of the rooms such as bitterness, unforgiveness, anger, sexuality, and control are directly related to one’s ability to thank God for the circumstance from the past. Failure to deal with the past produces the clutter by not exchanging the issues of life with God’s redemptive power. Recall that the altar in its simplest form is the place where we met God to exchange our earthly issues for heavenly elements. Giving thanks for all things may be the exercise that allows God’s full redeeming nature to be experienced. If all we did was thank God for positive things, there would be no need for exchange or redemption. The greatness of God comes when we have severe issues that need to be exchanged. Perhaps God sees our willingness to thank Him as an extraordinary act of faith that allows a complete healing of the past. In the Old Testament (Genesis 37-43), Joseph suffered during his life to a great degree. The afflictions and sufferings included: - He was sold by his brothers - Left for dead by his brothers - Accused of rape - Falsely imprisoned - Removed from his family for many years. In spite of all these afflictions, Joseph decided that he would name his first son Manasseh which means ‘God says he has made me forget all my toil and all my father’s house.’ He then named his second child Ephraim which means ‘God has made me to be fruitful in the

land of my affliction.’ Somehow, Joseph understood that without his many afflictions that he would not have benefited later in his life. He felt so strongly about giving God thanks for his afflictions and sufferings that he named his second child as a memory of this true concept in his life. Joseph learned the process and value of exchanging with God. Let me close by sharing the very scripture which helps explain. “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” I Thessalonians. 5:18. This passage tells us that in all circumstances give thanks for this is God’s will for you. God did not say to only give thanks in positive circumstances; anyone can do that. The truly faithful learn to let their past heal their future, as Joseph did.

Challenge Question: Genesis 41.52: “The second son he named Ephraim and said, "It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.” What personal afflictions similar to Joseph’s life have you experienced? And have you given God thanks through some type of memorial or confession, like Joseph did?

1. 2. 3. 4.

Personal Pearls of Wisdom Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t forget to list the Pearls you have found within. Also, please visit the Pearl Within Blog at http://www.focusonheaven.com/pearlwithin.html to share your thoughts, questions and breakthroughs. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________

Journey 4 – The Mind Jesus replied that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. ~ Matthew 22:37

“Whatever you hold in your mind will tend to occur in your life. If you continue to believe as you have always believed, you will continue to act as you have always acted. If you continue to act as you have always acted, you will continue to get what you have always gotten. If you want different results in your life or your work, all you have to do is change your mind.” ~ Unknown

Reflecting back on the first three Journeys it should be evident that one of the key concepts you are learning is the concept of completeness. God created you to be a complete person who could travel with Him, and He with you. Whenever you travel with God you are automatically forming a completeness that allows you to see things that an incomplete person cannot see. When you travel with God through your past, present, and future you are completing the wholeness of your life. The Great ‘I AM’, who always was, always is, and always will be, is able to provide a completeness like nothing else. There is no medication, no knowledge, no counselor, no therapy, no manual known to humanity that can create an instantaneous completeness inside of the human being, like the author of life can. This is the very reason Jesus is given the title of ‘The author and finisher of my faith’. No one can start my completeness, nor end my completeness, other than Jesus Christ. In fact, in Colossians 1:15 -17 God ascribes a completeness and fullness to Christ Jesus that cannot be found in any other subject, object, or person. Listen to the following words of completeness. “We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God's original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels--[everything] got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment.” (Colossians 1:15-17 Message translation) The completeness and fullness of life are indeed held together by God through His son Jesus Christ. This completeness is for each of us to take advantage of during the course of our life. When we take advantage of the very Light (Jesus Christ) that was sent into our world, for our salvation and completeness, we will never be the same again! We become the completeness who God always created us to be. In essence this is the backbone, the foundation of the Born-Again experience. This sounds too simple to be true, but it is the promise of completness for humanity, through Jesus. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” II Cor. 5:17. It should be noted that many people have cheapened and lessened the ‘Born-again’ experience by using it as a cliché’. However, let it be known that humanity cannot escape and cheapen the reality that Jesus Christ holds everything together. God made no mistakes throughout the history of humanity, and is now bringing into new revelation the completeness that humanity is longing for. In fact, the medical field has recently unveiled one of the most proven elements of the completeness that comes through Christ within the

human being. This new revelation suddenly removes the cheapness that modern day Christianity created. It clearly pin-points that Jesus Christ is indeed the author, finisher, completeness, and fullness of all things ever created. Take a close look at the image that is shown in figure 1 below. As you look at this image it looks much like the image of a cross that symbolizes and connects with Jesus Christ.

Figure 4.1 – Guess what? The cross type figure shown in Figure 4.1 is a medical X-ray of a human body molecule called a Laminin. Laminin, in simple medical terms is the glue that holds the millions of human body membranes and cells of our body together. God, who is the creator of human life found it amusing to stitch together every cell of the human body with a cross-like symbol. I am convinced that this was His way of fulfilling scripture that states that in Jesus Christ all things exist and are held together. “He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment.” Colossians 3:17. You may be astonished at this recent revelation by the medical field, but God was not surprised, nor should we be when we understand that He is the ‘I AM’. He was foreknowing how all things must eventually come together in completeness. The journey of the Pearl Within is a Journey of completeness; A journey of finding the Pearl Within you. May this simple revelation be another reminder of all the ways that God is beginning to manifest His completeness and carefulness as He designed each and every one of us. The exact medical definition of Laminins is described below Figure 4.2. Please do your own homework and research medical journals and dictionaries to verify that God was way ahead of the medical field. Before the medical field ever existed, God created the image of His son Jesus Christ within humanity.

Figure 4.2- Laminin Diagram Laminin Definition The Laminin protein molecule is the major component that makes up the matrix, which is also called the basement membrane. these are the sheets of protein that form the substrate of all internal organs. Laminin assist in cell adhesion and binds other extra cellular matrix components together. The laminin molecule is shaped like a cross and has four arms that are designed to bind to four other molecules. The three shorter arms are particularly good at binding to other laminin molecules, which is what makes it so great at forming sheets. The long arm is capable of binding to cells, which helps anchor the actual organs to the membrane.

Challenge Question: What images and thoughts about God were generated as you think about the completeness of Christ in each human being through laminin.

An exercise on completeness How do you feel as you pause and realize that within your body is the representation of Jesus Christ who holds all things together, and without Him nothing was created. Please take a moment and complete Exercise 4.1. Yes No Do you see Laminins within your body as another Pearl within you? Does knowing that God created this simple representation within human life give you a new and refreshed view of the human body? Does this new refreshed view allow you to begin to be thankful for the combined simplicity, yet complexity of your body? Could a new thankfulness for God’s creation to this fine detail of your body allow you to be healed in a special way; that was not possible before? Remember the Journey on Thankfulness you went through! God created us as people who are to feel complete and made whole; but Do you feel you are a complete person yet? Do you even know what it is to be a complete person? Are you starting to get a sense of the importance of being a complete person? Do you realize that completeness only comes through the person/being that exists for the purpose of bringing everything into completeness? Colossians 1:15-17 Were you surprised that God pays attention to the fine details of life such as the Laminins? Do you recognize that God spans the smallest of details such as Laminins, to the greatest of details such as the rotation of the earth around the sun, and the magnetic pull of the moon with the earth to create high and low tides in the oceans? Have you accepted that Jesus Christ is the fullness of both the visible and invisible aspects of life? Do you have this kind of child like faith? As you continue in your Journey to find the Pearl Within, do you sense a new light of knowledge, wisdom, and revelation being sparked? Go back to the Exercise Table 1.3 where you checked off your view of God Attributes. Has your view of God’s attributes been changing? Exercise 4.1 The introduction for this Journey on the Mind is necessary to give you a background on our need for human completeness. View this particular Journey as a means to become readjusted for the modern worldview that Christianity is only about love, or growing the heart. It is important to note that when God desires to work on a person, it is a personal matter between the person and God. Unfortunately, so many of us want to drag others into our specific situations. At the moment that God is sharing revelation and healing me, He does not want you to drag others into the situation; it is your personal moment of healing. For this reason, I ask that you focus on God’s revelation for you ‘only’ during this chapter. Let’s consider the reality of becoming a Christian, then maturing to be a complete person who is balanced between heart, mind, and soul. If I am an overweight person and I accept Christ into my heart one night, I will find that I am an overweight Christian the next day. If I am an emotionally hurt person, and I accept Christ one night, I will find that I am an emotionally hurt Christian the next day. If I am uneducated person and I accept Christ one night, I will find that I am an uneducated Christian the next day. If I am a lazy person and I accept Christ one night, I will find I am a lazy Christian the next day. Simply by accepting Christ into my heart does not make all issues in my life go away. Accepting Christ allows me

to accept His forgiveness, His Love, and salvation. Accepting Christ is my new starting point that qualifies me as a Christian with the promise of eternal salvation. However, I must start walking out this new experience and begin to learn the ways of the Kingdom, which include growing my heart, mind, and soul. This is the very reason that the greatest commandment is to serve/love the Lord your God with not just your heart, but with everything you are, including your mind and soul. If I want to progress through my Christian life by having a vibrant and personal relationship with God, I need to grow my mind through wisdom, knowledge, education, and training. If I do not grow in my mind, I will be limited and remain the same person all my life; when in fact, God wants me to grow as a complete person. This is the very model Jesus set for Himself. Luke 2:52 states that Jesus grew and increased in wisdom, stature, and grew in the favor of man! Jesus was the light, and love of the world, but he grew in all areas of life.

The need for completeness is necessary in order to find and fulfill the Pearl Within each of us. This journey now takes us into the one area of our lives that has the greatest tendency to break apart the process of being a complete person; The Mind. When Jesus was asked by the religious people what the greatest commandment was, he stated, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” Matthew 22:36-27 This is a straightforward commandment by Jesus, whose goal is to bring us into complete fullness in Him. He is telling us that the greatest concern or commandment is to serve or worship God with the combination of our heart, soul, and mind. These were not idle words being spoken, but truth that was vital for us to live the completeness of life. Even though this commandment was given over 2,000 years ago, many people still get confused. They get confused on the heart-felt, love-sought side of serving God. The heart-felt and love-sought side of Christianity is vital, but only serves onethird of the completeness we are to worship God with. My soul and my mind each comprise another one-third of the equation. By over developing only one-third of the equation, it is easy to become lopsided in my view of myself, of God, and fulfilling my completeness in Christ. This lopsided approach hinders me from being a complete person. Let’s take a simple examination of this concept in Exercise 4.2. For the sake of this exercise, please assume your Soul is comprised of both your heart and mind. Heart Since you became a Christian estimate the percentage of time you have invested in each of the three areas of serving or worshipping God. (Check High, Medium, Low) Rate how well developed your heart is toward God. Rate how well developed your mind is toward God. Rate how well developed your soul is toward God. Rate your awareness that Christians are to be exercising their love and compassion (heart). Rate your awareness that Christians are to be exercising

Mind

_____ % _____%

High

Medium

Soul

_____%

Low

their mind. Rate your awareness that Christians are to be exercising their soul. Agree

Disagree

Unsure

A person’s mind will play more tricks on them than their heart or soul does? A good or evil thought enters a person’s mind before entering their heart? You have witnessed more people lose their minds than their hearts? You have had moments of loss of mind, versus loss of heart? A person’s mind is more complex than a person’s heart? Fear is directly connected to the heart? Fear is directly connected to the mind? Faith is directly connected to the heart? Faith is directly connected to the mind? Fear controls the mind more than the heart does? Faith controls the heart more than the mind does? Fear controls my decisions more than faith does?

Fear is a controlling element in life? Faith is a liberating element in life? Exercise 4.2 It is important to realize that most Christians struggle very little with serving God with their heart and compassion. Rather, they generally struggle with serving God with their mind and soul. One of the main reasons for this is simply that the heart-piece of Christianity fulfills the innate nature to feel and express love, compassion and empathy. No one should argue that Christianity has so many feelings that allow us to enjoy love, express compassion, and be empathic towards each other. However, we must still use scriptural context to build the complete person in each of us, so we can enjoy the fullness of what is available to us in and through Christ. This requires us to balance our ability to express worship toward God with our full heart, mind, and soul. If we desire to be the complete person that God desires us to become, we need to better understand the full make-up of our being, and how we can worship God with that completeness. There are many opinions on the differences between the heart, mind, and soul; and in some cases, the three can include some of the same characteristics. For the purpose of this Journey on the Mind, I want to keep a simple definition that is agreed upon by most scholars. Heart – Our inward affections including love, compassion, and feelings. Mind – Includes our will and desire to move forward in knowledge, wisdom, intellect, and conscience. Interchangeable with the word ‘Might’ Soul - The living breath and spirit of a man, includes emotions (Jesus say’s my soul is exceedingly sorrowful. Matthew 26:38) Table 4.1 helps illustrates which part of our heart, mind, and soul our personal characteristics stem from. Some of the characteristics may be in multiple parts, but the ‘X’

represents the primary area where the characteristic stem from. Where there are multiple â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Xâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s are the areas where it is extremely difficult to separate.

Characteristic Love Compassion Emotions Conscience Fear Faith Wisdom Knowledge

Heart

X X X X

Mind

Soul

X X

X X X X

Table 4.1 As stated before, there are numerous opinions on what comprises and makes the heart, mind, and soul uniquely different. As we learned early in the Journey, a pearl is really created by identifying or confessing the irritants within. If you are anything like I am, you may find that Table 4.1 becomes invaluable. The reason it is so invaluable is that I have found in my own personal being that my emotions and fear controlled many years of my life. Even though I was a Christian with a loving and compassionate heart, I struggled immensely with the irritant of fear and emotional reactions. I was a fearful and emotional person who accepted Christ one day, and woke up the next day a fearful and emotional Christian. The next day and for many more years, I remained a heart-felt Christian who had many fears and emotional responses to the issues in my life. I had developed my heart-felt love for God, but did not increase in my mind and soul. My first 10 years of Christianity allowed me to expand and capacitate my heart, but I never focused on the need to expand and capacitate my mind and soul, which included the very irritants of fear and emotional decisions. I had not yet learned how to renew my mind to bring my completeness to God. Let me take this opportunity to share my personal story of reflection and refraction with you. I grew up in a religious setting and learned many of the attributes of Christian love, compassion, and behavior. However, the truth was that I was an outwardly prim and proper Christian, living the masked life of fear and emotional reaction. Through the masked years of fear and emotional control, God always allowed me to reflect to my childhood and remember that He was pulling me to a deeper understanding and questioning of who He really was. I can now see that my surroundings and mimicking of the Christian world-view allowed me to hide behind a mask, as so many other people hide. I was able to hide behind a deep wall of fear, and yet appear to everyone else that I was as normal as they were. I would say that I lived a doubleminded life that allowed me to feel prim and proper, yet fear was tormenting my mind, causing me to make my decisions based on my emotions. The cycle of fear and emotions forced me to want to control the few things I felt I could control. I am now convinced that the more a person fears the more they want to control people and circumstances.

The full view of this torment could not be understood until years later in my life, when God brought other leaders into my life. God began using these leaders to refract his image through. When I say refract, I mean that suddenly God gave me a reflective comparison of who He was through a few leaders of faith who actually walked by faith, change, wisdom, and excitement. Their personal walk of faith was not controlled by the fear and emotion I operated in, behind my mask. God was about ready to pull me through a knothole of complete change to strip away my mask, my fear, and my emotions by exchanging them into a life of faith and change. I had no idea how quick, yet tumultuous this journey would become. Little did I realize at that time that God was reflecting back into my childhood to the days when he was tugging at my heart to come closer to Him! Deep within me, He was pulling me up to a new level of understanding that went beyond my heart, deep within my soul and mind. Through an estimated 6-month window of time, God was bringing me through the greatest transformations of my life. My fear was finally confronted by faith! My emotions finally confronted by Godly wisdom, and logic. During this time, there were moments where I thought I was going to lose my entire mind, my marriage, and my trust in God. During this time of what I will now call a ‘cleansing’ came some nasty and spiteful comments that had been hidden behind my prim and proper mask of Christianity; where fear and emotion ruled my inner most being.

In God’s grace, He was cleansing me through a very precise and purposeful manner. The problem was … I had never been through something like this before. It should be noted that fear at its very height-of-control allows a person to stay safely behind a wall of in-decision, minimal change, and lead you to believe that the status-quo is the Godly thing to do. I was on the roller coaster ride of my life and there was no getting off without doing major damage. I now realize that I was transforming my mind, soul, and heart to become set-apart unto God’s perfect will. He was renewing my mind. (Romans 12:1-2) I am pleased to report that I came through this roller-coaster ride and knot hole experience of transformation a completely different person. I now had to confess that I had all the attributes of a ‘heart-felt Christian’ but had no understanding in my soul and mind of who I was in Christ. Once God refracted other leaders of faith into my life, I saw that the imbalance of false humility, prim-and-proper female behaviors, as well Christian behavior had robbed me of who God had called me to be since my birth. I realize that I was so close to missing my destiny, by fighting the change that was taking place in my soul and mind. After coming through this change, God called and allowed me to grow my soul and mind in a rapid manner. What normally would have taken me years to complete was now happening in a matter of months. I literally felt like I was traveling with God and seeing things of revelation that were hid for years. God allowed me to study and become a licensed minister who now walks by faith and spiritual confidence versus fear and emotional torment. Through Christ’s reflection and refraction process, I came through

victorious, and all for the purpose of bringing glory to His name through a completeness of my heart, soul, and mind. As much as I would not wish the experience during this transformational change on my worst enemy, I now find myself praying for every woman to go through it, so they might become the very person God called them to be. I am too aware of how many people have allowed fear to torment and ravage them. Ever since my 6-month transition from fear to faith, I started noticing people who did not make it through their moment of change. As God was cleansing them in the same manner He was cleansing me, they lost a part of their mind, and chose a different direction to pursue. Many have left their spouse, some have left their faith, and yet others went backwards to begin a greater journey of tormenting and emotional recluse than they started with. I often share with my husband that I can now see that many women who live in fear have the potential of shutting down and controlling a portion of the marriage, family, and society. This situation is not surprising to God as in a sense it was predicted in Scripture. Listen to what the prophet Isaiah says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Youths oppress my people, women rule over them. O my people, your guides lead you astray; they turn you from the path.â&#x20AC;? Isaiah 3:12 This in no way implies that woman are the sole source of problems. Rather it is trying to help share the truth that many of the prim and proper people who hide behind fear and emotion have dealt with the issue through control. Remember, this is my story of control and fear. And, fear brings torment and control. It is my personal plea that people would be loosed from this controlling, and tormenting way of acting prim-and proper, when at every corner they are ready to lose their own minds to the very fear that torments them. I trust that my personal experience and awareness allows you to see why God has challenged me to see this Pearl Within journey as a vehicle that can release people and allow them to be whom God created them to be. This Journey of the Mind is a fairly lengthy, but a needed Journey that will allow you to be transformed, if you will be 100% honest before God and with yourself. I believe that I went through my 6-month knothole and roller coaster experience to help many women make it through their Journey to find their Pearl Within! This is why I began to thank God for letting me experience out-of-control emotional reactions, depression, and confusion of the mind. My ability to thank Him allowed me to see His true and full provision for my past and present, while refracting out into my future where He desired me to help others.

the hundreds of other

Please take some reflective time to respond to the questions in Exercise 4.4. Please be patient, honest, and candid as you write down your thoughts as you complete the exercise.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1. Can you reflect upon a time as a young girl that God was speaking to you in a special way? ______________ What was God speaking to you? _______________________________________________________. Would you enjoy going back to that place in time and be reconnected? ____________________.

2. Have you ever put on a mask of the perfect prim and proper Christian woman, wife, mother, and/or Church member? ________________________________________

3. Have you ever found times that your life is controlled more by emotion than logic? ____________. Has this helped or hurt your personal life or relationship life? _____________________________________________________________

4. Do you feel fear controls more of your decisions in life than faith does? ___________________________________________________________________

5. Have you ever been challenged by God through the reflection or refraction of another person of faith? __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________

6. Have you had a similar â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;cleansingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; experience like I did? Please take your time as you may be able to understand a time period in your life that was purposed by God; but felt like it was from Hell itself: ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 7. If you made it through your cleansing, have you been thankful and shared your experience to help other woman? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

8. If you did not come through your cleansing process, but took a detour, do you want to allow God to bring you back through to completeness? __________________________________________________________________ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Exercise 4.3 As you have probably guessed the completeness that God has for you allows you to reach the greatest command that we stated earlier; Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. The journey to reach this completeness demands that you review what controls your life. This means you must be reflective on your present situation to see what parts of the complete person are easiest to serve God with, versus which parts are difficult

to serve God with. Let’s start the process of identification by using a few key scripture passages to connect the worship experience of heart, soul, and mind.

Scripture Example 1: The Fear Factor “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (fear), but a spirit of power, of love, and of sound mind.” (II Timothy 1:7) This scripture passage indicates that God is aware that we need three attributes in our life … “Power + Love + A Sound Mind.” These three attributes

Challenge Question: Read Hebrews 11:6 and Habakkuk 2:5 and list the one thing that God says we will not please him with if we do not possess it? _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ directly correlate to the aspects of Soul+Heart+Mind. God knows that these three attributes of power, love, and sound mind will make us a complete person. For this reason, God does not start us out with a spirit of fear. God knows that fear drastically effects our heart, soul, and mind. The fact that God intentionally does not give us the spirit of fear; indicates it has to come from another source. The best way to look at fear is to use faith as its counter-part. The opposite of fear is faith and the opposite of faith is fear. Faith allows us to live in power, love, and sound mind. When we walk out our life in power, in love, and in a sound mind faith rules our behavior and allows us to please God. The more faith we have, the more we advance Christ in our lives. The less faith we have the more fear creeps in and starts pulling us away from the attributes of love, power and sound mind. The reason the enemy (satan) focuses so hard on putting fear into our mind, is simply that it will hinder our faith; and satan knows that the very thing that pleases God is faith. Hebrews 11:6 states that ‘Without faith it is impossible to please God.’ Satan works diligently to place fear in our way to cripple people by putting a mask of fear between a person’s heart, mind, soul and God. When fear enters our being it comes into our mind at first, and creates a question or doubt. This is the very process that satan used on Eve; he came into her mind and placed the question in her mind about what God really said about eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. In fact this is where the ‘?’ symbol comes from. It is a Latin symbol representing the serpents physical figure and what satan did through the serpent. He placed a question in Eve’s mind. When questions and doubts are continually lurking in our minds, it soon affects our heart and soul. The more fear that I operate under, the less faith I will operate within. The personal cleansing that I went through allowed me to remove the fear and doubts in my mind and receive a measure of faith from God. It was then up to me to start building on that faith. I had to live out the passage of scripture that challenges each of us to “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” I can tell you from experience tasting faith that is pleasing to God is far sweeter and better than the taste of torment that fear brings to a person mind. “Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.” ~ Psalm 34:8

As you recall one of our challenges is to live a balanced percentage of these attributes. If I live off only a sound mind, and never operate in love, I may end up becoming an intellectual genius, but never experience love. At the same time if I operate only in ‘love,’ I may be making many bad emotional decisions for my life and family; as a sound mind is required to make sound decisions. Please use Exercise 4.5 to give an estimation of your balance between Love, power and sound mind +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++    

What What What What

% % % %

of of of of

your your your your

life life life life

is is is is

operated operated operated operated

in/from Love in/from Power (Soul) in/from a sound mind? from: __________*?

_____________________ _____________________ _____________________ ____________________

(*) Fill in the blank with another answer

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Exercise 4.5 Let’s assume that if you have a good balance in these three areas, you may be living by faith. This is a logical conclusion based on scripture. Don’t panic if you did not rate yourself high in any area accept the area of love, as you would be classified as the average person. Let’s move into Exercise 4.6, which is the opposite of Exercise 4.5. The two exercises will help you identify how much your life operates in faith or fear. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1. What % of your life is operated from human love ________________ 2. What % of your life is operated from emotional reactions ________________ 3. What % of your life is operated from a indecision and constantly asking other people for advice ________________ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Exercise 4.6 If you are like most people, you more than likely had more percentages in exercise 4.6 than in exercise 4.5. The whole point of these two exercises is to develop a new focus, new understanding, and transformation in your heart, mind, and soul. If the items in exercise 4.6 were more dominate than the items in Table 4.5 then you have a great need to rid yourself of some fear, and embrace more faith in God. If you recall back in Journey 1 you were presented with the thought that God was singing and dancing over your life (Zephaniah 3:17). We also challenged you to sing a song to God. We did this to get you at a higher level of understanding of God’s great love for you as a person. Please go back to Journey 1 and reflect on the song …. “I want to sing a song to you Lord,” again. God understands the tormenting power of fear and how important it is for us to have a relationship with Him that allows us to overcome that fear. Read Romans 8:15-17 and meditate on yet another view of how God views you. “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of son-ship. And by him we cry, "Abba Father." The Spirit himself

testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” Romans 8:15-17

God is so concerned with you that He desires you never to return to being a slave to fear. He would rather have you see yourself as a child of His who like a child crying out ‘Abba Father’, which means ‘Daddy’. Knowing that we can call God ‘Daddy’ is intended to give you a confidence and faith in Him, which you to escape the spirit of fear. Let’s look at Exercise 4.7 where you will hopefully find out how simple it is to redeem your fear with faith. Faith is the pearl within you; and fear is the irritant. Will you look for your Pearl of faith, and exchange your fear? God gives us opportunity to exchange our fear with faith in Him; what an exchange! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1. When fear has its grip on your mind, you are a slave to it; and fear brings __________________ (1 John 4:18) 2. If fear brings torment, is it your heart or your mind that is tormented? _____________ 3. Once your mind is tormented, the end result is that your heart will __________ (Luke 21:26) 4. When you walk by faith you are considered a _____________ person (Habakkuk 2:4, Rom. 1:17; Heb. 10:38 ) 5. When you live in fear your mind becomes less ___________________ II Tim. 1:7 6. Faith is the ______________ of fear; The more faith you have the less fear you will have. The more fear you have the less _________ you will have. 7. ______________ is the author of Faith 8. _______________ Is the author of Fear 9. If you follow the author of fear, you may find that you do some strange things once in a while, as you are more _______________ by the author of fear. 10. If you follow the author of faith, you may find that you do some spectacular things because you will _______________ by the author of faith. And greater works than He did will you do also; your faith will move mountains. 11. __________that is as small as a grain of mustard seed (Matthew 17:20) can remove issues in your life; while a small amount of ____________ can torment your life for years to come. 12. Considering God is ___________ over you personally, and He distributes gifts, faith, grace, and love toward you; you can exchange the fears you have with His promises in His word, which will build your faith. (Isaiah 1:18-19) 13. The more you read the Bible and hear Godly messages the more ___________ that you will begin to possess. (Rom. 10:17) 14. Faith is the pearl within you, while fear is only an irritant that you should not ___________ too! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Exercise 4.7

Scripture Example 1: The Meteor Factor Faith and fear are the opposing forces that cause people to bounce around in their mind if the two are intermixed. When we live and operate with a sound mind and know who and what we believe in, we are walking in faith. The best way to describe faith is to think of it as ‘belief in action’. This means I will walk out that which I say I believe. Fear on the other hand will always keep me from walking out that which I believe. The best way to describe fear is to think of it as ‘Doubt that causes in-action’. When we switch in our minds to focus on both fear and faith, we become what the Bible calls a double-minded person, who is unstable in all their ways. (James 1:8). James uses strong language to get our attention. However, James is desperately trying to get the attention of Christians to stay focused on ‘Faith,’ and not waiver back n forth, or they will be unstable. Read below and focus on the highlighted words that James uses: If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe (have faith) and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does. (James 1:5-8) James understood the importance of the mind, and how wisdom is critical for each of us. He encourages people to ask for wisdom, but warned them that they must have faith, or they are like the sea waves tossed by the wind. That type of person should not expect anything from God.

Challenge Question: Have you ever felt like your mind, emotions, faith, hope, and/or belief were just like the tossing waves described by James? Write down your most dominate feeling/aspect of life that is always being tossed back and forth. Then answer the question, does fear, faith, or wisdom control that area?

Jesus is a little kinder in sharing the same concept that James shared. James uses the metaphor of a tossing wave. Jesus uses a metaphor of a meteor. “And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.” Luke 12:29 (KJV).” The word ‘doubtful’ in this passage is the word ‘meteorizo’ which means to raise in mid-air, suspend, fluctuate, be anxious, or be carried about as meteors moved about with the currents, tossed up and down between hope and fear. I believe if roller coasters were around in James or Jesus’ day they would have used the roller coaster as the metaphor. Jesus and James are giving powerful illustrations showing that a person who doubts and/or does not operate in wisdom and faith will live a life that has many of their thoughts, will, and emotions on a roller coaster ride. I was one of these people who had a meteor shower taking place inside my mind, giving my emotions free reign to react to these ups and downs. However, the outward mask of the “prim-and-proper person” allowed me to appear as the ‘average good Christian.’

Once I asked God for wisdom by faith; through time, He exchanged my meteor showers with calm, peace and more patience. I was sailing on a more calm sea, and my life was no longer being tossed about as James describes. Doubt when unchecked, may produce more fear in a person. The fear that enters their mind works directly against faith. Even though doubt, risk, concern, and worry are all part of our everyday life, we must learn how to deal with it, before the build-up becomes a tormenting faith. When I take my doubts, risks, concerns, and worries and weigh them against God’s proven track record with me, I generally find that the doubt starts to flee from me. However, when I let my imagination run with the doubt, I begin to let my mind doubt the proven track record that God has already demonstrated through my life. For this reason, the Apostle Paul warns us to cast out all imaginations or pretensions in our mind. These imaginations will allow us to give satan too much attention and too much credit for controlling my actions. These imaginations and thoughts work against the knowledge of God and lead people to be disobedient to Christ. Disobedience in this context, is simply letting fear control my mind and thoughts and not giving God due credit for the knowledge of God’s faithfulness to us. “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” ~ II Cor. 10:5 I can recall that before I gave over (exchanged) my mind, thoughts, will, and emotions to faith versus fear, I would spend hours a day letting my mind operate in fear. For instance, I would pre-mediate in advance how people were going to disappointment me. My favorite target was my husband. I would give him a task to complete and set an expectation before him; and then in my mind ‘plan-out’ in advance, how I was going to let him have it when he disappointed me. My mind was in control of a negative and fearful pretension. I was playing out and pretending before it really happened. In some cases I was able to lash out at my husband just the way I pre-meditated it, but for the most part I wasted far too many hours operating in doubt and fear for no reason.

It wasn’t until years later that I realized that I was a wiser person if I would start praying a prayer of thanksgiving and blessing over my husband, kids, and family versus worrying over them. This was revolutionary to my life. It proved the knowledge of God in my life, while making me obedient unto Christ. I realized that if my husband was not blessed, I could not be blessed. I even went so far as to say, “if my enemies can’t be blessed then I can’t be blessed.” This may help some of you who think that your spouse and kids are your enemies. If I could live my life completely over again, I would live more pure to God’s Word and bless those who curse me. This is way too simple of a concept; no wonder God created it.

“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” ~Matthew 5:44-45 When I started blessing people and thanking God for them and their circumstances, the things that were once my irritants became a Pearl Within me!

Please take some time and complete exercise 4.8 that will help summarize what we just discussed. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1. Faith can be described as Faith in ______________; Where I act out, or walk out that which I claim to believe. 2. Fear can be described as doubt in ______________; where I worry or doubt so much that I never take action on the things I believe. 3. God desires all of us to have wisdom, but we must ask for it in __________. If I do not ask in faith, I should not expect to receive anything from __________. (James 1:5-7) 4. When I doubt about what I ask God for, I am like the waves of the sea driven with the wind and ______________ about. (James 1:5-7) 5. Our minds are powerful tools that allow us to take our false thoughts and imaginations captive; and bring ourselves into the _______________ of Christ. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Exercise 4.8 Summary This Journey on the mind has included a lot of thought provoking information. Some of it may take time to process, and may be worth going over again. The Journey was a revelation to expand your understanding that we must be balanced and worship/serve God with more than a heart-felt system. We must be willing to develop our mind, soul, and heart and serve God with them. The Apostle Peter adds his thoughts on the balance of the things we are to obtain in order to live a clear life. Listen to this portion of scripture that almost reads as a quote: “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith, goodness; And to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; And to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; And to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.” ~II Peter 1:5-9 Notice in this passage that there are seven steps that arrive at love, but it has to start with faith and pass through the knowledge of the mind. These seven steps validate much of what has been spoken of in this Journey. It closes with mentioning that we need to possess all the qualities in increasing measure, or we will be ineffective, unproductive, nearsighted, and blind. If we start with love and only grow in love, we will be very lopsided, ineffective, with no self-control.

To try and help identify with the importance of growing in all areas, specifically our mind through knowledge and wisdom, I want to leave you with a few things to consider. 1. The Bible shares that people may die or be destroyed by lacking two things. The two things are knowledge and vision. knowledge and vision stem from our minds. This means that I risk a whole lot if I choose to be of a limited mind and grow only in heart-felt things. a. “Where there is no vision, the people perish…” Proverbs 29:18 (KJV) b. “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.” Hosea 4:6 2. God desires us to walk worthy of Him. In order to walk worthy of Him I must increase in bearing fruit and knowledge of God. a. “And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.” Colossians. 1:10 3. If I desire to have a stable and peaceful mind then I need to keep my eyes focused on God; showing that I trust and have faith in Him. a. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Isaiah 26:3 (KJV) Please reflect on the following question in exercise 4.9 and then spend some time journaling your notes and thoughts from this Journey on the Mind. True

False

A person who doubts everything they do will live a stable and peaceful life? A person who attempts to control people and circumstances is living a life of faith? A person who lives in fear is listening more to God than the voice of the enemy? A person who lives by faith is listening more to God than the voice of the enemy? A person who switches between fear and faith on a regular basis is considered a double-minded person? A person who switches between fear an faith will do great things at times, and strange things at other times? Heart-felt Christianity by itself is a lopsided view of the whole Christian person who is to grown in heart, mind, and soul? Without faith, it is impossible to please God? (Hebrews 11:6) A fearful person is generally a controlling person? Think hard on this. A faith driven person is generally a ‘blessed’ person? When emotions rule your life, you may not be living a balanced life with your entire heart, mind, and soul? There must have been a good reason that Jesus said the greatest commandment was to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul. Possibly God puts the command in place to provide a way to make sure we are developing the whole person, so we could live a balanced life? If your mask were removed today, would someone find a person of

complete faith, with just a few wrinkles of fear? If your mask were removed today, would someone find a person who is controlled by fear, worry, and doubt? If you asked your family to be completely honest with you, would they say your life is ruled by faith more than fear? Do you believe the concept of the following quote: “Whatever you hold in your mind will tend to occur in your life? If you continue to believe as you have always believed, you will continue to act as you have always acted. If you continue to act as you have always acted, you will continue to get what you have always gotten. If you want different results in your life or your work, all you have to do is change your mind.” ~ Unknown Through this Journey on the Mind have you found or polished the Pearl of faith within you?

Personal Pearls of Wisdom Don’t forget to list the Pearls you have found within. Also, please visit the Pearl Within Blog at http://www.focusonheaven.com/pearlwithin.html to share your thoughts, questions and breakthroughs. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________